December 21
by Lunatuh
Summary: How should I have known that one day my entire life Would change? A man, a crazy teacher, an animal, a baby and a whole lot of fate. Turns out there was not much needed after all. Rated M to be sure. Yeah, I suck at summaries
1. A new start

_Okay, this is the first time I actually tried to write down a fanfiction and I have to admit I'm a little nervous. My first language isn't English. It's Dutch. God, English isn't even my second language. No, that would be French. English is my third language. I see this story as a good practice, both for my English and my writing, and I would really like your advice, while I write this._

_So with that over: about this story: I have been wandering around with this idea for a while. Technically I wanted to write about someone's life changing due December 21. And because I lacked ideas for the characters I thought: why not make it a fanfiction. I'll be pairing up Sasuke and Naruto in this, because the two of them kind of crack me up. Don't kill me for it. I also watched only 38 episodes of this show, so I had to look around a little for extra characters that appear later in the show. I hope I didn't screw them up. _

**Disclaimer:** Clearly, this has to be said. Naruto isn't mine, neither are the other characters here.

**Warning:** So, I'm not really in to this, so… There's violence? A little (or a lot) I don't know how much these things count. XD

**A new start**

It had been the last year of high school. I had already made it through the first part of the year and Christmas was approaching fast. I was really looking forward to the upcoming holidays. Especially since Iruka had promised to make me ramen for Christmas dinner. I already loved turkey, so adding ramen should make it taste as heaven. I shook my head as the thought almost had me drooling and continued packing my backpack. Tomorrow was the first day at my new school and I wanted to make sure everything was in order.

Now, you're probably wondering why the hell I was switching schools just before the holidays were about to start. Well, before I could tell you that, I'll have to tell you a little about my life. I was born as a pretty normal baby. Matching my loving father in both blond hair and blue eyes and inheriting my other great looks from my mother, I was the best baby they could have ever wished for. I had a pretty good life with them. Which was as much as fifteen months, because one person had decided to screw up our lives entirely after that time.

It had been during an evening walk , or so I had been told later when I was old enough. My parents had taken me for a walk down the park in my stroller. It had already gotten dark when we had returned home, and maybe if we had returned a couple of minutes earlier, I wouldn't have been where I was now, but we didn't. And that's why we had encountered some girl, totally high from the drugs she had used, on our way back. My parents had known the girl and when they had recognized her, they had threatened to tell her parents. That's why I had none now. The girl stabbed them both and left them for dead. I was left alone in the stroller in the park, crying. "I panicked" had been her confession later on. Like that would bring them back ! She was sent to rehab and maybe got a couple of months in some institution, I don't know exactly. All I know it was not enough for killing me parents. She was underage, so they could not give her the same punishment as adults. Yeah, right! Like that's fair! I was found that same evening by the guard, who was closing off the park and it was that cold night my life of switching families started.

It started with my granddad, but once he got too old (in his eyes at least), he decided my aunt should take care of me. Next up was my uncle, followed by a niece, some time with my granddad again and I even stayed a while with both of our neighbors. The only thing that at least stayed the same was the house. It was situated in a pretty good street in Kohona, so all of them were more than willing to move into it. Only 'for my good' of course. Lies, I tell you! All of them had to leave me at some point: not enough money, a new baby that had been born, their work. They all had an excuse. That's why I wasn't really expecting anything from Iruka, when he offered to take care of me. He had been an old friend of my mother and had just gotten back from England after all those years. As soon as he heard what had happened, he had offered to take his old friend's son in. Or I was taking in him or something, since he moved into my house.

That had been about seven months ago and Iruka had turned out to be a really nice guy, although he could sometimes get on my nerves, as he wanted to teach me stuff that had 'lacked' from my education as he kept putting it.

Well and that's how we got to this moment. He had quickly noticed that things weren't going very well on my current school. My grades weren't very good; in fact I had even stayed down a year. (Not that I cared since there was not really an age difference since I was born end December) and he had also discovered I hadn't any friends. (Which wasn't my fault at all , because you see, I really couldn't see how they not wanted to be friends with me ! I was only like the most fun kid around.) That's why he had decided to send me to Kohona high, and I mean the Kohona high, the most popular school in town. And since he and the principal had decided the last days before vacation didn't really have important lessons, they agreed to already let me attend school to 'let me get used to it'.

So I sighted as I closed the backpack and dropped myself on my bed. Why was I trying so hard anyway, it wasn't like it was going to be any different from the other school. Still… I hoped it would be a new start. With new people, nice people…

"Naruto !" Iruka knocked on the door before stepping into my bedroom. "Are you ready? It's time to sleep. It's going to be a tiring day tomorrow." I glanced over to the door and smiled. "School's always tiring." Iruka chuckled and walked over to my bed to ruffle my hair. "Ah, don't do that !" I quickly smacked away his hand, which only had him chuckling again. "Stop being a knucklehead and get to bed already." "I don't want to." I wasn't tired yet and kind of felt in the mood to start an argument. So I expectedly sat back to see how Iruka would react. Sadly the guy was (as always) on to me.

"Just go to bed, Naruto, and tomorrow I'll make you pancakes !" He smiled endearingly, when I glared at him, knowing he had just ended the argument before I had properly started it. Pancakes! He'd pull that trick on me! ? I grumbled and got up in order to change into my pajamas, complaining loud enough for him to hear. Iruka laughed and patted my back before heading back to my door. "Sleep tight !" I looked at him, still pissed about my loss.

"Good night." I would never let him walk out without a proper goodbye, even if I was pissed. And he knew it. It was something I had always done. Never let someone go without saying goodbye! You may never see them again and feel sorry afterward. I crawled into bed and pulled the sheets closely around me. I wasn't even sleepy yet. Hah, He could dream that I was going to sleep! I wasn't going to, not in a hundred years … but somehow a couple of minutes later I was far away in dreamland, rocking my first day at school.

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I woke up from the loud birds that were singing next to my ear. I sat up in bed, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes and hit the clock on my nightstand to shut up the stupid birds. Really, I didn't know how Iruka thought this stupid clock would make it easier to get up in the morning. It simulated a sunset, which would wake my body more 'naturaly'. In my opinion the sun could come up and drop again a hundred times and it'd still be a pain to get up. Ah! I dropped the thought as I remembered it was the first day to my new school. I quickly kicked my sheets aside, took the clothes I had laid out on my desk the previous day and headed towards the bathroom. A quick shower later, I was heading downstairs. The delicious smell of pancakes hit me as soon as I entered the kitchen and it made my mouth water.

"Good morning, Naruto ! How are you feeling ? Excited about your first day at school ?" Iruka shoved a pancake on a plates, while watching me as I sat myself at the table. "No, not really." I poured myself a glass of orange juice, thanking Iruka who set the plate in front of me. The way I felt my stomach clench, told me I was lying, but I'd rather die than ever admit that to him.

"Really?" I quickly started eating the pancakes, when Iruka looked at me, disbelief clearly in his eyes.

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Twinty minutes later I was on my bike, pedaling quickly. I could have gone by foot, but cycling just was more fun. Kohona high was a huge building and, once I had placed my bike in the designated space, it seriously had me wondering if they had a map for this place. Iruka had told me to go and see the principal first. She'd give me my schedule and tell me a thing or two. Where I could find here however, I had no idea. I started to look around in the hallways, hoping I'd see a door stating "principal" or something like that. I kept at it for about five minutes, before becoming irritated and stopping.

Damn, this place seriously needed some signs. I scanned the hallway I was in, discovering some people were watching me. They probably wondered who I was. Maybe I should ask them where I could find the principal… I was already deciding which one I should ask, when someone tapped me on my back. I turned around to discover a black haired boy with huge eyebrows standing in front of me. He was wearing a an all green suit with matching tie and was smiling so intensely I could practically feel happy-vibes coming off of him.

"Hello! I saw you walking down the hallways like a lost puppy. You're new here ?" I blinked once at the realization he had just called me a lost dog. But seeing the friendly smile that came along with the question I doubted it had been meant as an insult. "Yeah, I'm new here."

"I knew it! My name is Lee, pleased to meet you!" He stuck out his hand in order for me to shake it. "Naruto. Pleased to meet you too." I returned the same polite greeting, shaking his hand firmly. Kid seemed nice enough. "So can I help you with something?!"

"Yeah, actually you can. I'm looking for the principal's office. Do you know where it is?" Now there appeared such a wide smile on Lee's face that I worried for a moment it might split. "Of course I know, I'll show you!" I was yanked away from my standing place as he linked our arms and dragged me down the hallway. It took me a couple of minutes to get over the initial shock and to notice he was talking to me. "- that's why I'd never want a locker near the gym again."

"Huh?"

"What?! Would you want a locker that always smelled like something died in it?" He stared at me for a moment, before he continued to drag me along again. "Uhm, not really no…" What was this about again ?

"I know, right! Well, I hope you get a good one! Tell, principal Tsunade I said hi !" Surprised I looked around and noticed we were standing next to the principal's office. How the hell did I get here?! Lee had already run off.

" Oh, yeah! You can come sit with me during lunch!" He shouted before darting around the corner. Gee and they called me hyperactive? I shook my head before knocking on the door. " Come on in !" a soft voice called. I opened the door, swallowing the lump in my throat. She sounded nice, so she couldn't be that bad, right?

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I quickly found out she didn't only sound nice, but was really nice too. She gave me my schedule and told me about the expected behavior on school. Next she made me sign their rulebook and gave me instructions to get to my new locker before sending me off to start my lessons. My books I could pick up next Monday.

Okay, let's see if I can find my locker in this maze. With the instructions she gave me, it turned out to be quite simple to get there. I inspected my schedule before pinning it on the inside of my new locker. Great, I got to start with my favorite class: math! I might as well drink some spoiled milk while I was at it. Or maybe have a tree hugging party. So where was this class anyway? I looked around to see if Lee was around, but when I didn't see him, I decided to ask one of the girls that were standing a couple of feet away from me.

"Ehmm.. Excuse me." I tapped the back of the girl with the long blond ponytail to get her attention. "What?!" She turned around to give me an irritated look, but quickly stopped when she didn't recognize me.

"I –I just wanted to ask if you knew where math class was." Believe me, I could already tell this was a girl I should not mess with. "Oh, you're new here?" Yes, obviously I was. I nodded. "Oh, hello then! My name is Ino." She said, giving me a friendly smile. Wicked girl. Just switching moods like that. "I'm Naruto, pleased to meet you."

"Naruto?" To my surprise another girl's voice called my name and I peeked over Ino's shoulder to see who it was.

"Sakura?!" My mouth must have fallen open in surprise when I recognized the pink haired girl who worked in my favorite shop. "You know this guy?" Ino faced Sakura, while pointing at me. "Of course I do, he's our best client. He comes over almost every day!" I blushed a little at how normal she made it sound knowing me. I was a little flattered to be honest. Okay, maybe it wasn't that hard remembering my name since I had bothered her for months, trying to get her attention, but the fact she remembered still made me cheeks flush in a faint tint of pink. Even if I had given up on her and purposely made sure I ordered from another waitress, she still had noticed me coming back. And that was just… nice.

"Yeah, but it's really their fault! Their ramen is addictive. How could I stay away from that?" I ran my hand through my hair, before placing both of them behind my head. "So… you know where math class is ?" Ino nodded.

"Yes, Hinata and I are in the same class too." She gestured to the girl with the black hair and the light eyes next to her. Wow, I hadn't even noticed her! The silent (and uncommonly pale) girl blushed fanatically while confirming Ino's statement. "Y-yes, that's true. Y-you can come w-whit use i-if you want too." What a soft voice she had. I tried smiling the friendliest way I could, in an attempt to ease her. "Thank you. I'd like that." The girl's cheeks got even redder. Well, she sure was shy.

The class was already crowded with people once we got there. Ino seemed to keep the nice-girl-act up toward me and I wasn't sure if I should have been relieved or worried, so I decided to remain careful until I'd get to know her better. I took a seat next to Hinata and just in front of Ino and was unpacking my stuff, when I was rudely interrupted.

"Hey, who's the goofball that stole my seat!?" I, together with Ino, shot an angry glare at the boy that now stood in front of my desk. He looked like some kind of thug, the cap of his hoodie pulled firmly over is head, so only the ends of his brown her were visible. I think that Tsunade lady had mentioned that being illegal, but the boy clearly didn't care. I was about to say something back, but the blonde beat me at it.

" Keep your big mouth shut, Kiba. This is Naruto. He's new here and is sitting here today, so you better find another seat." The boy returned the girl's angry stare, but didn't argue while taking the seat next to me. It wasn't exactly what I would call a smooth start. Kiba was now glaring at me and I would have returned that glare if I had not remembered promising not getting in a fight on my first day. Keep calm. I redirected my attention back to Ino who was smiling again and happily chatted to Hinata. The latter mainly only smiled and nodded. I mentally added three exclamation points to the "watch out for Ino" note in my head. Kiba seemed to carry around a similar note too.

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" I didn't get a single word he was saying!" Ino patted my back, while I crossed my arms and pouted. " Don't worry about it! We're starting something new next lesson, so you'll be able to follow better." I shrugged. "I don't get math anyway, so I doubt that will change anything." We headed to our lockers again, fervently discussing the worthlessness of math. I soon had Kiba at my side, while the girls kept claiming that math still had its perks. The boy seemingly had forgotten about me 'stealing' his seat.

"That may be, but it still sucks!" Okay, we could all agree about that. I opened my locker and peered at my schedule to look at my next lesson. Life science. I still wasn't sure why I had picked that class. Ah, right, I thought it would be easy. I sighted and closed my locker again.

"So, one of you girls know where we have Life science?" Sakura and Ino started giggling and the latter pinched my cheek. " You picked Life science? That's too cute!" Immediately regretting singing up for that class, I tried to fight back the blush on my cheeks before answering.

"Sure, I thought it'd be easy." Kiba sent me a pitying look. "Aw man, you should have chosen photography or something like that. There are almost no boys in that class." What?! Sure, only I could start off my first day at school as a complete loser. " Well, it's not that bad! There are lots of nice boys in our class!" Sakura smiled, tilting her head to the side a little. Pink strands of hair fell to the side, drawing my attention. Why did she paint it like that anyway? "Hmmm." I tried focusing again. " Right! How bad can it be! I bet I'll be the best in no time!" With that we started walking to class. (After saying goodbye to Kiba of course.)

"So how many boys are there to be exact?" I looked at the girls who were now walking beside me. Sakura had said there were lots, but... what was 'lots' in here opinion? It wasn't like I knew here. "Euhmm.." Ino put a finger on her lower lip and frowned. "I think there are like seven, maybe eight boys. You not included of course." Okay, seven, eight, I could live with that. It shouldn't be too weird then. Sakura decided to trash all hopes I just got. "But there are like eighteen girls!" Yep, I was doomed. Apparently my frowning amused her. "Come on, Naruto. Don't sweat it! Even really popular guys come to our class." she blushed, probably because of one of the 'popular boys' mentioned. Before I could ask whom that might was, an arm was thrown around my neck and I was pulled closer to its owner.

"Naruto! How is my new best bud doing? You're also taking life science classes?" Lee was practically pulling my head off, but was apparently not aware of it. "Hey, Lee. Yes, I'm in this class too." I tried covering my ear, because he was shouting next to it, but didn't succeed. "That's great! Make sure you sit next to me!" The girls giggled, aware of the fact he was seriously hurting my neck now.

"So, I see you already met Lee?" Ino couldn't hide the amused smile, while I sent her what should have been a warning glare. If she dared saying another word… "So I see you two are good friends already!" Okay, she was dead now. And I would have killed her that instant if it hadn't been for our teacher who invaded our conversation.

" Lee, stop strangling your classmates and get inside my classroom." My head was finally released and I thankfully breathed in all air I had lacked a couple of seconds ago. Our teacher was watching me, the smirk on his face creeping me out a little. " The same goes for new students and pretty girls." He winked before stepping into his classroom. What a creep! I stepped (or was rather dragged) into class and sat myself down next to Lee. The latter immediately started talking about the upcoming holidays, summing up all dishes he might like for Christmas dinner. I eagerly joined in, explaining how ramen would make every dished he named taste even better.

I was so caught up in it, that I almost missed the girls' giggles. "What's up?" I turned my head to ask what they were talking about, but the question never left my mouth, as I quickly found the subject of their conversation. "You got to be fucking kidding me!" The girls watched me in shock, while I got up from my seat and glared at the black-haired, dark-eyed, blue-wearing, stuck-up boy who had just entered the room.

"You come to this school too?!" The surprise, which had barely appeared on the boy's face when he had noticed me, was gone in seconds and was replaced with his normal poker-face-look. "Hn." He swiftly sat down at his desk and ignored me. The idiot clearly didn't deem me worthy for a proper answer. Not thinking about leaving it like that, I moved in front of his desk and glared down at him, silently demanding a proper answer, even if it was a pretty obvious one. I only got a glare back.

Any normal person would have trembled under or even run away from this particular glare, but not me. I was too cool for that. Plus I was used to it. Which probably helped too. A little. I tried glaring even harder, but was distracted when Sakura asked me a question.

"You two know each other?" I blinked once, a little surprised by the disbelief her question held. If I knew that bastard?! He was my damn rival!

"Yes." He only snorted, as if he didn't want to recognize that fact, and I had to keep myself from strangling him that very instant. Remember: don't fight your first day at school. "Sasuke, stop being an asshole and answer properly when a girl asks you a question!" He slowly placed his chin on his folded hands, before answering me.

"I don't have to listen to you." For the second time that day our teacher kept me from killing someone.

"Can everybody, please take their seats." I got even angrier when a slight smirk curled Sasuke's lips, pleased with my defeat (or at least what he saw as it). Still I returned to my seat and sat down calmly, hiding my anger. Stupid kid was always pushing my buttons. It had always been like that and would always be like that. I grumbled, returning my attention towards our teacher, who had finally stopped reading the small book he held. "I see today we have a new student in our class! Let's start this lesson introducing ourselves to each other. I'll start. My name is Kakashi and I'm your teacher for the rest of this year. Now say your names loudly and tell one thing about yourself. Naruto, you start." All stares were now fixed on me and I shifted a little in my seat, nervous about the sudden attention. "Uhhh… I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I want to become the best mayor Kohona ever had." When some of the people started whispering I felt the sudden need to shut them up. "You better believe it, I will." I hit my desk before crossing my arms, expelling any further whispers from the room. "Okay, Naruto. Thank you for sharing that with us. Next, Ino."

Finishing everybody in class almost took the entire hour, especially since Lee decided to share a lot about himself. I'm sure that, if Kakashi hadn't stopped him after ten minutes, he would have kept talking till school was over. Expect Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Lee and (sadly) Sasuke, who I already knew, I already successfully remembered the name of the boy next to Sasuke, Neji. There were also Choji, the fat boy who sat in the back of the class and Sai, who sat right behind Hinata. Sai seemed a little bit off. That was it for the boys' names. From the girls I could remember the names of: Tenten, the girl who sat behind Neji, and Temari . All in all, remembering this many names was a pretty good accomplishment for me. I grinned proudly. "Okay, people, that's that for today. Make sure you bring some markers next lesson, because I'll be giving you your special assignment on which we'll work after the holidays."

"Hey, teme !" I quickly darted out of the classroom, determined to get my answer this time. Sasuke stopped and turned on the spot. "What?"

"You still didn't answer me!" I stopped right in front of him, crossing my arms again.

"You got eyes, don't you?" He kept his voice even, but I could tell I was irritating him.

"You know what I mean! Weren't you attending that snobbish school out of town?!" He looked around the hallway and I noticed some people were watching use now. Not caring, I waited for his answer.

"No." He turned again and calmly started walking away from me, not deeming me worth another look. That was enough for me to let an insult slip from my lips. "What? You got kicked out?! You're not as brilliant as your dear brother?" Yes, I knew how to push some buttons too. I was instantly slammed into the lockers and held there, his tight grip not leaving me any room to move. "Don't talk about my brother." He hissed the words barely loud enough for me to hear. I probably should have been scared out of my mind, I should probably also have stopped that instant, but hey ! I was Naruto Uzumaki and I never cared about what I 'should do'. Enjoying the fact I got him positively angered and the fact I was finally getting some sort of reaction out of him, I went a little further. "Why? Nobody can know about him? Afraid they will see you're not that smart?" Too far. I received a punch right in the stomach, which nearly made me puke. I reacted quickly and soon we were both on the ground, kicking and punching like our lives depended on it. We didn't hurt each other too much, we knew each other's moves to good for that, but I could quickly tell he already had given me some painful bruises. Angry I kicked, aiming for his knee, but before my foot could even hit him, I was dragged to the side, away from Sasuke.

"Are you two out of your mind!" Lee and Sakura were holding me tightly, keeping me from hitting Sasuke again. Neji and Kiba were doing the same thing with Sasuke. "Were you to trying to kill each other?" Kakashi was looking stern at both of us now and pointed toward the end of the hallway. "Go and get to the principal's office immediately!" I pulled away from the hands holding me and silently started walking toward the direction he pointed, glaring at him as long as I could. Lots of people were watching us now and I noticed silent whispers while we passed. With the fight over a little voice came back to me, making me understand what I had just done. I had broken my promise. I fought my first day at school.

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_So that's it for the first chapter. What did you guys think ? Should I continue ?_

_I made Iruka his guardian, since he's really nice to Naruto in the series. It seemed only logical to me that he is the one to start the change in his life. Kakashi is the life science teacher, since I need his weird behavior later on. Speaking about life science: is that a real class in America. Here with us it's called different and I didn't know the name so I used this. Technically it's about family life. You learn how to take care for babies, there is teambuilding, health classes, there's cooking, … Anyone who cares to give me a better name, if there is any?_

_I'm using real-life experiences in my story. I hope they add to it. The pancakes-bribe, the clock and the math discussing are part of them. _


	2. Surviving the day

_Trying another chapter._

**Disclaimer:** Naruto's not mine. Nor are any of the other characters.

**Warning:** Euhm? Strong language? I really don't know what's strong these days since I had a five year old screaming at me he would really like to screw my ass a couple of months ago. Tch… Kids nowadays.

- shakes head like an old lady - and I'm only eighteen, lol

**Surviving the day**

"Remember! If I see you two fighting again, there will be consequences!" I nodded quickly, not wanting to further evoke the anger of our principal. The previously nice lady had vanished as soon as we set foot in her office and had been replaced by a now terrifying woman, who had been lecturing us for almost twelve minutes now.

I intensively stared at my lap, trying to avoid any eye contact and waiting for her to finally set us free from this hell. To my greatest relief she had decided to let us go with a warning this time, since this was my first day and Sasuke was normally a model student. Nha, I should have known. Show-off!

"Okay." Her expression softened a bit.

"You can go now. Get to your classes, you two," she said, shooing us with her hands. Not needing to be told twice, I quickly got up from my seat, left the office and headed straight to my locker. I still had to see which class I had now. I peered at my schedule again to determine my next class and mentally cursed at my findings. Life was against me, I was sure of it. It had to be, cause the next two hours I had P.E., I didn't know where the gym was and of course the only person who did know, was the one I just fought with. See, that was just too messed up to be a coincidence. There must have been some Gods plotting against me or maybe this was part of one big conspiracy.

"Sasuke?" Eugh, that sounded pathetic. The boy stopped and looked at me, waiting for me to continue. Damn, if it weren't for that stupid class… Kissing my pride goodbye, I asked for the intelligence I needed so desperately. "Do you know were the gym is ?" Instantly a smirk crept over his face, well aware how dependent I was in this situation. I swore I'd kick his ass as soon I was home again. Now however I could only stand and wait for his answer.

"I have P.E. too." Huh, no teasing, no remarks? I stared at him for a second, before following him to our class. Maybe I had hit his head or something. I unconsciously checked his head, searching for some kind of injury that would confirm my presumption. Nope, nothing. My eyes trailed down the rest of his body to see if there was another explanation. I found none. No severe damage, nothing that could cause him to lose his mind. Only some bruises and… I found myself staring at his feet. As he walked, he awkwardly pulled his right foot a little higher from the ground as he normally would. Did it pain him? Maybe I had been too hard. I tried to scratch the back of my head, but quickly stopped as the gesture sent a stinging pain to my back. No I hadn't been too hard. It served him right, that bastard!

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"Go to class already, you idiot." Sasuke was currently changing into his sportswear, glaring at me, while I waited for him. "I'm not going in there all by myself! " Gee, like I hadn't got enough attention today! I sent him a glare of my own, making sure he understood I was going nowhere. He snorted before redirecting his attention to tying his shoes.

"Here." I looked up only to have a shirt tossed at my face.

"Hey, why did you do that?" I quickly pulled the thing from my head and glared angrily at him. He shook his head, tying his other shoe now. "It's to wear during P.E., dobe."

"Why…"

"You don't want to walk around smelling the rest of the day, do you? Believe me, after two hours with Mister Guy, you'll need it." He didn't look up, so I couldn't exactly see his face. Was he playing a trick on me? I sniffed the shirt quickly to make sure it didn't smell. Nope, no stench; in fact it even smelled… nice. I shrugged and switched into the shirt. Checking his head again, I decided there must have been some internal damage. No way, he would do something nice otherwise.

"You coming, dobe ?" I blinked once, being interrupted from my thoughts and noticed he was already at the door. I nodded and followed quickly.

"Uh, Sasuke ?"

"Hm."

"Thanks…" The raven only shrugged and kept walking. Like he had no other choice than give me the damn shirt. I scowled at him, but my effort (because frowning your eyebrows is quite the effort) went by unnoticed.

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This Guy person had indeed turned out to be quite, ehm, passionate when it came to his job. He had us running several laps for being late, before we could join in with the others. We had played some type of dodge ball. I say some kind, because once you were hit, you went to the other side of the field and got one shot with the ball from the sidelines. If you hit a member of the other team you were 'in the game' again. Also when a ball went outside the lines of the enemy's field, you could get the ball and hit somebody, which had the same effect: you were back in the game. Then there were the team captains or 'kings' as mister Guy called them. They were placed behind the opposite team and stayed there, occasionally throwing some stray balls, until all members in their group were out. When that did happen they would step in and try to hit the other team. Once someone was hit, the king could pick someone from his team to come back. Beside that special 'power', the king also didn't have one, but three lives. A very strange game indeed.

"Aah!" I leaped aside to dodge a ball that came flying by, inches from my face. My very vulnerable face, as I may say, that I intended to keep in one piece, if I had anything to say about it. "Sakura! Watch out, guy said no aiming at the face!" I shouted, shaking my fist at here, like an old man. Sakura giggled, but quickly jumped aside as Kiba threw a ball at her. Those damn girls! Somewhere between the first and second hour of our lesson Mister Guy and Miss Anko (the girls' gym teacher) had decided it would be fun to let the girls play against the boys in order to see who was the best. And those damn girls. Were. Winning. I again dodged a ball, caught it midair and threw it at some black-haired girl, hitting her on her... chest. Which was apparently very sensitive as she grabbed them, euh, it and yelled in pain. A second later I found myself being dragged from the field by 'queen' Ino, while being glared at by several of the girls.

"Naruto, you're so dead," she growled, tugging harder at my now already swollen red ear. I winced and put my arms in front of me defensively. "I didn't –"

" I don't care! Go say sorry to that poor girl, before I kick your sorry ass there. You're out. It was forbidden to aim there." She scolded and folded her arms in front of her chest, looking as if she was going to burst any minute now.

"Gee, like I did it on purpose! And I'm out! That's just not fair! Sakura can throw a ball, aiming at my freaking face, but I'm out?!" That girl really was wicked! And angry. And glaring at me. Really scary.

"Okay, okay." I also crossed my arms and pouted. "I'll go and say I'm sorry."

I jogged over to the girl, who was now sitting on a bench surrounded by three other girls, and let myself drop on my knees in front of her. I saw a tear rolling down her cheek and instantly felt a little guilty. Okay, I clearly had pained her. Enough for her to cry (or at least make her eyes water). So maybe she deserved a sincere apology from me after all.

"Uhm, hello. I'm really sorry about the ball. I didn't mean to hit you there." I looked right in her eyes and sent her an apologetic smile. The girl sniffled a little, but smiled while I fumbled with edge of my (Sasuke's) shirt.

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt that much anymore." She said, smiling softly. I grinned.

" You know, I was actually aiming at your feet. Well, I guess I'll have to let you in on a little secret now." I bend a little closer to her ear, placing my hand next to my mouth conspiratorially. The girl inched closer too. "I'm terrible at aiming." I sounded dead serious, but as soon the girl started sniggering, my face broke into a smile and seconds later we were both gasping for air, trying to stop the tears from rolling down our face. When we finally got some composure back, I decided I should probably introduce myself.

"My name is Naruto."

"Mine is Shizune." I shook her hand and smiled again.

"So Shizune, would you like to split some cake with me during, like a peace offering of some kind?" Cake. Iruka had made me some for my first day, but splitting it probably would be nicer. Plus, shared cake tasted twice as good. The girl shook her head. "No, thanks. I can't."

"Eh? You don't like cake?"

"No, no, that's not it." She shook her head again and smiled. "I have an assembly of the student council. I'm the class president." I blinked once. "Oh, wow! That's really great!" Maybe I should be a little more careful around her. She probably had some kind of power around this school, so luckily I hadn't upset her. I eyed Ino for a moment. Had she known? Was that the reason she had dragged me – rather rudely – from the field. To make sure, I didn't upset the wrong person? Nha, who would know the girl's motives? I bet even God himself didn't.

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The rest of the lesson went by rather quickly. The girls won – not surprisingly – and we had to run some laps again. With the girls on our backs. Really tiring, but according to miss Anko and Mister Guy it was a great exercise for carrying people in life threatening situations. Like we ever would use it in our lives.

Finally we could go back to the dressing room and there I ended up in another awkward situation. Because that was just the way my life went. Some girl – at least I thought she was – had entered our dressing room and I, as the friendly boy I am, had pointed out her mistake. "I'm a boy." She – he – had said. Wishing I could sink through the floor, I had stuttered some reply, before jumping into the showers, where I was currently trying to wash away my shame. It didn't really work, so I decided to give up, gathered the little dignity I had left and left the showers again. I ignored the boy, who was smiling at me and started changing into my clothes. The shirt I had borrowed was soaked, thanks to Sakura, who was a lot heavier than she looked. Saying that out loud however would be a fatal mistake. Deciding it was better to wash the t-shirt, before returning it, I stuffed it into my backpack. Sasuke was apparently not so fond of the idea.

"Hey dobe, stop stealing my stuff." What?

"I'm not stealing anything! Why would I want your crap?!" The nerve he had! Calling me a thief!

"I don't know, but that's definitely my t-shirt." He pointed at my backpack, accusingly glaring at me. What the hell! He thought I was stealing the stupid thing?

" I'm not stealing it, teme! I'm going to wash it, because it smells." Clearly that was still not reason enough for him, as he held out his hand.

"I'm completely capable of washing it myself, so give it back. It's mine." Gee, a little possessive or something? I angrily pulled out the shirt and threw it in his hands.

"Than don't lend it out!" I angrily stomped out of the dressing room, not caring for the scene we were making, and started heading towards the cafeteria. It wasn't for about two hallways, before I heard Lee running after me.

"Naruto! Wait." I stopped in order for him to catch up with me. It didn't take too long.

"The cafeteria is on the other side of the school." Okay, maybe wandering around in a place you don't know wasn't my brightest idea yet.

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The canteen was bright, large and neat. There were a lot of big tables and it was crowded with people. In the back you could get food, both warm and cold, and drinks. It was very nice and cozy, unlike my former school.

"Naruto! Lee! Over here!" Ino and Kiba were waving at us and I gladly took the invitation. We sat down at the table and greeted the group. Beside Ino and Kiba, also Sakura, Choji and Hinata were sitting at the table. And a boy who was sleeping with his head on his lunchbox. He turned out to be called Shikamaru. "Just let him sleep, he won't bother introducing anyway. Too lazy." I nodded, opened my own lunchbox and started eating.

"Hey, Naruto. What were you and Sasuke arguing about?" Lee asked. Immediately the rest's interest was sparked and they all turned to stare at me. "Yeah, an' wha' we' you' fghting fo' ? Choji asked, not taking the trouble of emptying his mouth first.

"You totally kicked his ass, dude!" Kiba grinned. Sakura and Ino didn't agree.

"No, I think it was good we got you out of that fight, because Sasuke definitely would have won." Ino stated, putting a finger on her lower lip.

"Why did you attack him? That was just so mean of you!" Sakura scowled.

"Hey, he punched me first! So he started it!"

"That's true." Lee confirmed.

"Yeah, how did you do that? Sasuke normally never says or does anything." Kiba said.

" What?"

"He's right, I think the guy is into Stoicism or something." The lazy Shikamaru had woken up and had decided to finally add something to the conversation.

"Like you're the one to talk." If the boy had heard Kiba's comment he didn't show. All eyes turned back to me again and I shrugged. "I don't know. I hate him. He hates me. It's like that."

"So how do you know him?" Sakura leaned forth on her arms, eagerly waiting for my answer.

" I live next to him." And lived with him, I added silently. Not that I was going to tell them.

"You're his neighbor? That's so cool!" Sakura squealed. I was slowly starting to suspect she liked the devil.

The chattering continued for a while and I was really grateful when Lee started about something else.

"So what do guys think about today?" Everyone looked at Lee, not really getting what he was asking. "You know, it's December 21! You think something is gonna happen today? Or will our beautiful earth just blow up on midnight?" The girls started giggling.

"Nothing is going to happen Lee, it's just some myth." Shikamaru shook his head. "The Maya calendar ends at this date, but they just start over. Besides, scientists think they have miscalculated the date anyway."

"But what if something really was about to happen! What do you think it would be? What would change our world? Change the world as we know it?" Lee was clearly excited as he now stood and was gesturing wildly, drawing an imaginary circle (that was earth) in the air

"Maybe aliens will land." Kiba sniggered at the mere thought and we started to pack our things to go outside. The conversation continued while we walked toward the exit. Around the school was a nice open space. There were trees, grass fields, paths, benches and even a fountain. During breaks we were allowed to go outside. Tsunade had said it was good for the student's dusted minds to get some fresh air. The wind was chilly, but we didn't care, and we went to sit under a large tree. Lee and Kiba were currently discussing the existence of aliens. From time to time Shikamaru would throw in some scientific facts.

" Even if there is life on other planets, it doesn't mean we could communicate with them. They may be less or even further advanced. If less advanced, they may not get our signals, if further advanced they may not use radio anymore or won't be interested in life forms that use such outdated technology. It isn't even said they use technology, as we know it at all. If they use it, it can be completely diff-" Shikamaru was interrupted by an angry yell.

"Naruto !" A rather angry Iruka was heading in our direction. I should have mentioned this. Iruka was a history teacher at Kohona High, so he also sent me here to keep closer tabs on me. I only had hoped he'd wait until we were home. But then again, that would just have been too convenient for me. I quickly got up and put some distance between the group and me. It was less distance than I would have liked, but it was better than nothing. I didn't like to be preached at before a bunch of people.

" Tsunade told me you fought! It's your first day at school and you're already fighting!" He scowled at me and beneath his anger, I could hear the disappointment in his voice. It hurt.

"Sasuke beat me, I had to defend myself." I murmured, looking up from behind my hair that was conveniently hanging in front of my eyes. I pouted, something I knew would have a disarming effect on the man. It worked.

"What am I going to do with you? It's always him." He shook his head and rubbed his temples. "You're grounded for the rest of the weekend, okay? No computer! And you'll go up to your room as soon as you're home" I nodded. I had expected worse, at least a week, if not two.

"Please behave." He sighed and ruffled my hair a little. "I'll make some soup tonight." After saying goodbye, I turned back to the group. They were staring at me. A little uncomfortable I sat down again. Sakura was the first one to say something.

"Mister Iruka is your father?" I think she was a little shocked.

"No, he's my guardian."

"You're guardian?!" Now she was definitely shocked. I mumbled something.

"What did you say ?" I cleared my throat a little and intensively stared at my lap.

"I said I have no parents." Silence fell over the group and I waited. This would be it. They would make fun of me, just like the kids in my last school. Humans were cruel that way. They're afraid of things they don't know, they don't know how to react. So they hate it and make sure it stays away. Making its life miserable. Making my life miserable. While they could have offered help, could have been empathic. I guess they're strange that way too.

"I-I'm very s-sorry for you." I looked up to see Hinata, not sure if she had really said those words. She couldn't, could she? This was not how people normally reacted. She'd laugh at me. But by the way she smiled, I could tell she wasn't going to do any of those things. I felt wonderful.

"Yeah, sorry we asked, buddy." Lee patted my back – a little too harsh – and the others nodded. I couldn't stop smiling. Maybe, maybe this was going to be better after all.

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The day flew by after that. The sun seemed to shine a little brighter than before and I felt the sudden urge to dance and sign all day. My good mood however was killed as soon as I got home.

"Well, Well, if it isn't our dear Naruto." I glared at the creepy man in the garden next to us, as I stepped from my bike. "I heard you have hurt my little Sasuke. How could you?" The heck, who told him? Sasuke? No, he wouldn't.

"He isn't yours, Orochimaru. And it's none of your business." The possessive freaky nanny smirked, something that always creeps me out.

"My, my, Naruto. Of course he's mine. Didn't I take care of him the last ten years of his life?" Okay, it wasn't like the nanny had made a secret of that fact on previous occasions. Hell, he had even explained me a freaking plan he had made to live forever due Sasuke. He'd make sure Sasuke thought he was the only one who cared for him and once Sasuke would figure that out, he'd adopt the boy and change his last name to his, whatever that may be. That way his name would remain forever. I highly doubted that Sasuke would ever give up his precious name, but it still freaked me out somehow. The guy was just insane. I wondered who had hired him in the first place.

"Get lost." I opened the front door and stepped inside, ignoring Orochimaru completely. I grumbled all kinds of insult while I went upstairs and kept at it till I closed the door of my room behind me.

" I heard you had fun on school." I nearly jumped three feet high and turned on the spot to see the intruder. I stared at the almost identical copy of me that was sitting in my window. "Damn, Kurama! Stop sneaking into my room. You scared the hell out of me!" My twin grinned, mischief flickering in his eyes. "I just came to hear about your first day. I heard you had fun. Fought a little." His teeth flickered as his grin grew larger.

"I don't care what you heard. Why are you here?"

"Aw, that hurts. Can't I talk to my brother ?" If I hadn't known him, I would have sworn he was actually hurt. The boy kicked of his shoes, walked casually around my room and started picking a book from my book shelf. "I'm hungry." Of course he was. He always was.

"Wait here. And don't mess up my room." I quickly glanced over my bedroom. "even more" I added. I went downstairs, mumbling something about stupid twin brothers with horrible timing. I decided on making him a sandwich with bacon, something I knew he would like, while Iruka warned me I shouldn't eat too much.

"We're having dinner in an hour or so." Iruka didn't know I had a twin brother. Nobody, expect me and my granddad did. Kurama wasn't like me. He didn't put up with this life. He ran away when he was six, stopping to attend school and nobody had even cared to look for him. Expect me. Maybe. From time to time he visited me. Asking for food, chatting, annoying me. He liked to tease me a lot, but I thought that under that stupid mask he wore, he actually cared for me. Like I cared for him. He wasn't like me. That's why he had also dyed his hair red since we were little. To make a statement. To hide his blond hair. To differ from me.

"I'll be fine." I assured Iruka, before heading up again. Kurama practically devoured the sandwich. Mannes, he never learned them. "So what do you want to know?"

"Everything." We chatted a little, I went down to eat and we chatted some more. Soon enough it was getting late and I felt my eyelids become heavy.

"I'm going to bed. You're staying?" Kurama nodded and I threw him one of my pajamas. Once changed we both crawled into bed. I wasn't worried Iruka would find us. He usually didn't come in, afraid to wake me up, but even if he did Kurama would notice in time to hide. His senses were inhumanly sharp from living outside, like he was some kind of animal. I closed my eyes and yawned. "Good night, Kura." I never got an answer back.

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So, is it fluent enough? What do you think of nanny Orochimaru, I had so much fun on that part XD

He's just a perfect evil nanny, isn't he? I also couldn't leave out Kurama. He's too important. Who else is going to spice up Naruto's life a little (beside Kakashi of course.)

Are there problems with my jumps in the story? Or are they clear? I feel like I'm rushing while I write. Is it like that or is it just a feeling of mine?

Any remarks? Tips? I'd be honored to get some.

God, I'm begging again. Let's pretend I didn't, 'kay?


	3. Suprise, suprise!

_Let's try another one, shall we ? Last chapter I forgot to thank my one and only reader and reviewer. So sorry! Herewith, Charlie Uzumaki, I thank you!_

_Have fun reading!_

_EDIT: Edited some mistakes, a thanks to KitsuneLuvr88 for pointing them out!  
_

**Warning:** child abuse, cursing, violence. That's it I think.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

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**Surprise, surprise!**

"Oh, Naruto !" Somewhere far away a voice was calling me.

"Ssssshh… not now I'm buzzy." I said, continuing with whatever it was, I was doing.

"Naruuuuuuu !" The persistent voice chanted and I felt being rudely poked in the side.

"Go away!" I smacked the hand that was poking me, before nuzzling further into the warmth and fluffiness that surrounded me. Hhhhmm. Warm. Cozy. Soft. COLD! WET!

"Aaaaah!" I quickly sat up in bed to find a Kurama grinning at me, a dripping wet towel in his hands.

"Waky, waky, Naruto. Rise and shine." He tossed the towel in my face, the ice cold water making me squeak. Yes, squeak. Let's see how you do when someone tosses cold water on your sleepy head!

"Kurama! You better have a damn good reason to wake me up, because I'm going to kill you if you don't." I tossed the towel at his face, giving him exactly ten seconds to explain himself. He was not impressed and only grinned (just like I would, only with 93% more evilness added.)

"Happy birthday, Naru! We're eighteen now!" I blinked. Birthday. I blinked again, thoughts processing slowly. It was our birthday! A smile crept over my face and I laid my hands on my brother's shoulders.

"Oh my god! It's our birthday, Kura! We're eighteen. We're like... like adults now!" I shook him heavily in my excitement, almost screaming out the words.

"Calm down. I don't wanna break my neck. It's my birthday too." I quickly let go of him. "Oh yeah, sorry." Then I grinned again. "We totally got to celebrate!"

"Well, I for one am going to celebrate, you however have school." Shit. I totally forgot.

"Here to compensate that bummer." He took out a small envelope from under the bed – I had to remember to watch my room better – and handed it to me. "Your birthday present." I quickly opened; okay tore the envelope apart to reveal its contents. I gasped.

"Kurama?" I stared at him in concern. "How did you get this?" I glanced back between him and the money on my lap, waiting for an answer. It better be a good one.

"I… saved it." He said tentatively, making me scowl. "How?"

"I worked."

"Don't lie to me, Kurama! We both know you don't have a job. How did you get it?" I clasped a hand over my mouth as a new possibility crossed my mind. "Oh, god, Kura, you didn't steel it, did you!?"

"God, Naruto no!" Now it was his turn to scowl. "I really did work for it! Just not the kind of job you'd normally think about." Something in his voice made me wary.

"What kind of job, Kura?"

"It's not important. Just leave it." He looked me right in the eyes, his eyes cold and warning. I knew we were done talking. This was one of his no-no topics. I saw it. Talking was out off the question, which worried me.

"So." I wiggled a little, trying to shake away the tenseness that now hung in the room. "Thank you." I collected the money in my lap – which was at least seventy dollars – and put in the drawer of my nightstand.

"I've something for you too." I pulled a (poorly) wrapped gift out of the open drawer and handed it too my twin. "Here you go. It's not as nice as yours and definitely not as expensive, but I hope you'll like it." The sounds of tearing paper were heard.

"Naruto…" My head dropped. "I know. I'm sorry. It's crap. But I didn't know what to get you and-" The words stilled in my mouth as my brother pulled me in a hug. A freaking HUG! Dooms day must have been here. The world was about to end! I just knew it!

"You stupid kid. Stop telling nonsense. It is perfect." He let me, still in shock, go and eyed the picture that had been in the gift. It showed a small, somewhat unsteady, wooden shack. "Did you build it yourself?" I nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, I even made a bed inside. It's not that good, but I guess it's more comfortable than the floor." I rubbed the back of my head and mentally cursed Sasuke, since it still hurt a little. I had to get back on him somewhere in the near future. Maybe block his front gate or something like that. Yeah…

"I didn't know you could built stuff like that." I heard Kurama say the words, but didn't really register them, still planning all types of revenge. That was at least until I was hit on the head. You see Kurama had a little authority problem, hmm. Which was actually a mayor problem. He didn't only hate to be controlled -I swear never go there, it ain't pretty - , but he also hated it when other people didn't show him the respect he thought he deserved. I had learned that the hard way, which included several bruises, and still managed to forget somehow.

"Aw!"

"You were spacing out and I was asking you something." He stated mater-of-factly. In his head this was a normal reaction. I had tried to explain him it was not normal to hit people like that, but it hadn't fully registered and had only ended with more pain on my part. That's just my life. Which included crazy twin brothers. No escaping possible.

"So I said: I didn't know you could built stuff like that." I scowled, still rubbing the bump on my forehead vigorously. It was going to take a wonderful color, if not a mixture of them. "Well, I couldn't." Kurama only blinked.

" I just did it." I shrugged. "I hit my fingers a couple of times, burned my fingers on some glue and one time I even fell of the roof and got a plank in my face." I chuckled at the memory and looked at my twin, pointing my nose. "My nose was bleeding, I had a huge bump on my forehead and I was limping. You should have seen Iruka's face. He thought I was run over by a car or something." Kurama chuckled too.

"Wait!" Apprehension deemed on his face before he burst out in laughter. "That's what had happened? You told me you slipped while getting out of the tub!" He continued laughing without control, gasping for air. Soon enough we heard someone running up the stairs.

"Naruto, you're okay?!" Kurama had just enough time to jump out the window, before Iruka burst through the door, looking like a madman. His eyes immediately fixated on my face and he frowned. "What happened to your head?" He asked, quickly getting over to my bed to examine the bruise that, by now, probably was an interesting shade of red.

"I fell out of bed and hit my head." Classical cover-up. Iruka hummed, making sure I had no other injuries on my head, before he stood up and sighed.

"I'm really considering getting you rails for your bed." He said shaking his head. "You really fall out often. One of this days you're going to get seriously hurt." A slight panic filled my chest. I'd never be able to invite my new friends if he really got me rails.

"No,no,no! It's all right. I have a thick skull." I patted my head and winced. Forgot the bump. 'Please, please, don't mean it! Please for once? I'm a good boy, I don't steal stuff, I sleep on time, I eat my vegetables, okay, not with great enthusiasm, but I eat them! So be nice to me!' I begged every god, powerful being and higher alien in this universe. And wonder of wonders: my prayers were heard. "Okay, okay, I see. No rails than," he chuckled.

"Let's get you some ointment" Iruka walked towards the door. "Oh, and Naruto?" He stopped in the doorframe and watched me. "Happy birthday!" I just happily glomped him.

"Thank you, Iruka." He gently patted the back of my head, before shaking me of.

"Okay, okay. Come on. I made you waffles with strawberries as breakfast and I think there's a present waiting for you downst-" I practically flew off the stair, right to the kitchen. There I froze, only able to stare in awe. The kitchen was adorned with colorful garlands and Iruka had tied some balloons –ORANGE balloons – to my chair. On the table stood the waffles with candles on them, and there was a nicely wrapped present on my plate. It was amazing.

"So what do you th-" Again Iruka wasn't able to finish as I practically buried myself in his arms, water leaking from my eyes. Okay, yes, I cried. So what? I was happy. I mean, it wasn't like any of the fosters had ever cared to even wish me a happy birthday, much less celebrate it.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Iruka asked, wrapping his arms around me in attempt to calm me down. "Don't you like celebrating your birthday?" I shook me head, hugging him even closer.

"I like it a lot. I'm happy." I looked up at him, tears still streaming from my cheeks, and gave him a wide smile. "Thank you." Iruka smiled too and pushed me towards my chair.

"It's nothing. Here" He pushed me down in my seat. "Go on and open up your present!" I nodded and eagerly opened it. My eyes went as wide as, not as saucers, no, but…as…as giant UFO's. If not wider.

"Wow, that's really for me?"

"Of course it is. I thought it would come in handy. Do you like it?" I eyed the laptop in front of me, before jumping Iruka the third time in the last half an hour.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I hugged him, squeezing until he complained lacking air. Then I released him and we proceeded blowing out all candles before starting breakfast. Munching down the strawberries, I closed my eyes and smiled. Yep, this was going to be the best birthday I ever had.

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School is heavy and if it weren't for our lockers, it would also be very bad for our backs.

That was the conclusion I came to while carrying the huge, unstable and heavy pile of books I had picked up at the secretariat back to my locker. I mean, how many books do you possibly need?! There were twelve of them! English, Life science, math and sciences even had two books. I shook my head, quickly stopping as it made the pile waggle dangerously. Would we use all that was in those books? Because that was a pretty terrifying amount of knowledge. I stuffed all of it in my locker, before looking on my schedule. Oh great, I had life science. That meant I had that weird Kakashi guy again. I gulped, remembering how mad he had been when he broke up my fight with Sasuke. I also remembered glaring at him for keeping me from hitting the bastard. That couldn't have given a good impression. Hopefully, he didn't keep grudges, because I had him six hours a week for the rest of the school year. Maybe the girls new? I hiked happily towards their lockers and waited there for a full two minutes before the first one showed up. It was Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura!" I waved. She smiled and waved back.

"Hey, Naruto! How was your weekend.?" She asked, while taking her stuff out her locker.

"Great, great! Or actually, no, it wasn't." I shook my head and she looked at me questioningly. "I was grounded, so it was rather boring." I explained.

"Ah, that's why you weren't at the shop either." She nodded apprehensively, seemingly happy with her deduction skills. I only scratched my head and muttered a 'yeah'. Then she frowned, having finished packing her stuffed and now concentrating on me.

"What happened to your head?!"

"What's wrong with his head?" I heard a voice ask and Kiba jogged up from behind me, only to turn and gape at me. "Dude, what happened to your face?! It's freaking purple!" He openly pointed a finger at my face, before frowning. "Did you fight with Sasuke again? Should I hit him?" He asked seriously.

"God no, Kiba! Don't just go hitting people! Why do you even think Sasuke hit me? I just fell out of bed." I said, shaking my hands in a 'wow-stop-right-here' kind of way.

"Okay, listen to me now." Kiba said scowling. "One. You don't seem to have any problem hitting people. Two. I assumed since you said you two fight all the time. Three. You fell out of bed?! Dude, that's just lame!" He sniggered, amused with idea of me falling out of bed. Okay, maybe I had to find a better cover-up, because this was getting irritating.

"Stop laughing at him!" Sakura hit Kiba hard on the head, making him wince. Ah, so violent and strong. Charming, but also really frightening. I smirked.

"Why is Sakura hitting Kiba?" Ino and Hinata, both already carrying there books, came standing beside us and looked at Kiba and Sakura, before looking at me. Hinata gasped and Ino gaped, as if I were growing a second head, which was, according to their reactions, probably not as far off as a guess. "Naruto, you're purple! What happened?!" she screeched, probing the painful bruise on top of my face. Really I was going to kick Kurama for this.

"Ouch, Ino. Stop it. That hurts!" I swatted her hand away and Kiba started snickering.

Ino sent him a questioning look. "He fell out bed." Ino giggled.

"Gee, Naruto, you must have fallen badly!" She said, intentionally looking at the bruise again. I shifted a little under her piercing gaze, feeling a little uncomfortable being looked up at from so close. "I hit the nightstand." I explained. She only nodded and giggled again. "You're sure entertaining." The others mumbled in agreement. Suddenly Hinata tugged at my sleeve, before holding out a small jar in both of her hands.

"Na-Naruto," She stammered. "H-here take this. I-it w-will heal the bruise." She held the jar closer. I smiled and took it from her.

"Oh wow, thanks, Hinata." I put the medicine in my backpack. When I looked back, the girl had turned in a bright pink color and was watching everywhere, but me. So shy. It would probably take a while for her to get comfortable around me. Oh well, she could take as long as she needed. I'd be waiting anyway.

We said our goodbyes to Kiba and started heading to our class. On our way over there, I started worrying again. What if Kakashi held a grudge? Maybe he would sabotage the rest of my year. Or worse. He had come across a creep, so what if he was some kind of psychopath. It wouldn't be the first teacher who kidnapped their student and locked him in their basement. Making me take endless test. Only eating old bread and drinking filthy water. I whimpered. No ramen.

"Eh, Naruto?" The girls were watching me in concern. "What is wrong?" Ino was looking at the bruise again. Stupid imagination. It was both a blessing and a curse.

"Do you think Kakashi is going to be mad at me?"

"That's Mister Kakashi for you young man and why would I be mad?" I yelled and nearly jumped three feet in the air, before turning to my heart-attack-giving teacher. He looked at me, mirth shining in his eyes. "Well?"

"B-Because of the fight?" My head was already taking the color of a tomato and I tried staring everywhere but him, which didn't work as well as I planned. He smirked.

"No, I'm not mad about that. In fact," He smiled at me and winked. "you made my job easier." Huh? What the hell was he talking about? How could breaking up fights make your job easier?

"How?" I eyed him warily. He chuckled. I mentally took some steps back.

"You'll see when I give you your special assignments." He stated. Next moment he popped out a small book and started walking down the hallway towards class, not once looking up to see where he was heading. I looked at the girls, they watched back.

"Should I be worried?"

"Definitely."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII

I was lying with my head on my desk, buzzy being bored to death. Lee was not in class yet and the girls were in the middle of a discussion concerning tampon-quality. (I really didn't want to know.) So I didn't have anyone to talk to. That's why I was, at the moment, trying to amuse myself imagining myself times ten having a party on my own. I was in the middle of doing the conga when something was dropped on my desk. I looked up to see a -again nicely wrapped- gift lying in front of me. I really needed to work on my wrapping-skills in the near future. Staring at it for a moment, my mind finally decided it should take a look at the owner of the gift. My eyes slowly traveled up, meeting a huge overdose of black and blue on their way, before finally meeting a dark pair of black holes. No wait, those were eyes.

"Hm. Happy birthday, dobe." Well, that sounded so cheery, I almost wished it wasn't my birthday at all. Sasuke just kept staring at me, waiting for me to open his gift. Well, it was after all a gift for me, so why dull the mood with his attitude? I again eagerly ripped the paper away to discover two small boxes in it. I opened the first one. It contained a small bag of chocolates, all kinds of flavors. I smiled, picking one of them and putting it into my mouth, before opening the second box. "Oh."

I pulled out two packets of seed. One contained sunflowers, the other marigolds. I guess most people are now thinking 'WTF! Who the hell gives such stupid things as a gift?!'. Okay, I get it, it's not very exciting and you can't eat it and stuff, but **I** liked them very much. Since I was little I'd grow sunflowers in the garden and marigolds in my room. I could see and help them grow from seed until they died. It's very satisfying, especially if you can't get a pet like me. It's some sort of responsibility. Besides their colors are beautiful to look at!

"Thanks!" I looked up at Sasuke and beamed him a smile. I figured even ice princes deserved them when they got you awesome gifts. That smile however was lost in the dark clouds that apparently were forming right above his head as he stared dangerously at me.

"What happened to your head?" His eyes widened a little, as if he just had some kind of epiphany, before narrowing again, looking even darker this time. "Did Iruka do this to you?" Oh god, I knew that look. I had only seen it twice, but god I knew that look! This was his say-yes-and-I-will-kidnap-you look - at least if you could call it kidnapping – and I had first seen it twelve years ago.

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_I quickly ran out of the backdoor, running to the far back of our big garden. There I slumped back against the big oak tree growing there, shivering and sobbing. I hurt allover. My arms, my legs, my belly and head. I couldn't even feel which one hurt the most. I wished Kurama was here. He would have helped. He would have comforted me. But he wasn't there. He had left. I was alone._

_I tried hugging myself, but it only pained me even more and I sobbed harder. 'Why?' I asked myself, but I knew why. I had been bad. I had done wrong. This was my punishment. I deserved it right? But… it hurt so much! I buried my face in my arms, hoping for the pain to just fade away. I didn't even notice the small boy that peeked through the hedge at me._

"_Hey." I flinched as something touched my shoulder. I looked up, whipping the tears from my face in order to see better. A black-haired boy was sitting in front of me, a frown on his face. I recognized him immediately: he was the neighbors' son. I had watched him many times playing in the garden with his brother, laughing and running, and I would envy him for it._

"_What is wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked. I shook my head. What did it matter? He just kept staring at me, not going away until I would answer._

"_I-I got punished." I said between my sobs. His eyes widened a little while he inspected my skin. There were probably bruises all over, but I didn't want to watch._

"_Why?" He sounded pitiful. It was clear he didn't know that I had been bad. If I told him, that would be over. He'd know I deserved it._

"_I b-broke the vase. I didn't mean to, but…" I tried to repress another sob. "It's good now. I got punished. It's over." I turned my head away, hiding my tears. I should not cry. I was no baby, only babies could cry. But it hurt._

"_Did your caretaker do this? Did he hit you?" I nodded, of course that's how you got punished right? Didn't he know that?_

"_Itachi…" He carefully stroked the bruises on my arm. "Itachi never hits me. I have to go up my room, I have to stand in the corner, but never…" He shook his head. "He never hits me. I don't think it is okay to hit someone." It wasn't? He always hit me. Never as hard as now, but still always…_

"_Hmmm…" The boy looked thoughtful at me, before glancing at my house and back at me again. "Come with me." I looked surprised at him and he took my hand. "Itachi has something to put on them." He pointed the bruises. "I'm sure he'll give some to you too. He's the best." He pulled me through the hedge. Walking pained me, but I guessed it was better if his brother could help me._

"_Itachi! Itachi!" He pulled me through the backdoor, right into the kitchen. There he let go of my hand and ran toward what seemed to be an older version of him. He pulled at the older boy's sleeve._

"_Sasuke, calm down. What do you want?" He smiled at his little brother and ruffled his hair. I felt that little pang of jealousy in my chest again. Nobody did that with me, not even my brother. Nobody loved me like that._

"_Itachi, you need to help this boy! Give him that thing you always use on me." He pointed at me and now Itachi seemed to notice me too. His eyes quickly scanned me up and down and they widened a bit. _

"_What happened?" He immediately started rumbling through the kitchen's drawers._

"_He broke a vase and his caretaker hit him." Sasuke frowned and watched his older brother carefully as he pulled something out of a drawer. Itachi came closer to me, making me back away a little. Was he going to punish me too? Sasuke said he never hit him, but maybe Sasuke just wasn't as bad as me._

"_Ssssshhhh. Don't be scared. I won't hurt you. What's your name?" Itachi crouched in front of me, keeping enough space between us to keep me comfortable. I quickly looked at Sasuke to make sure it was okay. He was after all the one who had brought me here. He nodded._

"_Naruto." Itachi smiled and petted my head softly enough to not make me wince. "Hello, Naruto. My name is Itachi. Would you come closer please? I have something that will help you heal those bruises, but you'll have to come closer and let me see them." He gestured me to come closer. Hesitantly I did as he had asked. One step at the time._

"_Now listen, Naruto. I have to put this cream on them. It will hurt a little. Do you understand that?" I nodded, but couldn't help but cry again as he rubbed the cream on the sore spots. It hurt a lot, not a little. He asked me where it hurt the most. "E-Everywhere."_

"_Can you pull out your shirt and trousers? I need to see if there are bruises there too." I nodded and he helped me pulling of my shirt and untying my shoes. Every move I made, I whimpered. Sasuke followed the whole progress closely._

"_Itachi?" Itachi stopped a moment in order to look at Sasuke. "Hn."_

"_It isn't okay to hit people, is it?" he asked frowning. Itachi sighed and continued working on me. "No, it's not okay, little brother."_

_Sasuke's frown deepened and he stared at me for a moment, while crossing his arms. "Then we should keep him here. He cannot go back! What if his caretaker does it again?!" As small as he was, Sasuke looked quite determined at the moment._

_I spent about a month with them. That was the time it had taken to find a new caretaker. The old one had been sued. Later I would learn it had only been this quick, because Itachi and Sasuke were Uchiha's. Their family was influential, rich and powerful._

"_Does he really have to go?" The three of us were standing in the doorway. It was time for me to go home again. "Yes, Sasuke, He can't stay here." I have to admit, even back then Sasuke's glare was pretty deadly. "Sasuke, listen. It's not that I don't want to, but I'm not old enough to look after him. I can only look after you, because you're my brother." I don't know how he did it, but Sasuke pulled of the saddest the look I ever saw that moment. _

"_Now don't you sulk, little brother. Naruto lives next door, you can see him every day. Sasuke shook his head. "It's not the same." He had been right, you know. It was not the same afterwards. They didn't let me play with him. They dropped me in daycare before and after school and during vacations. They picked me up in the evening and I wouldn't be allowed outside after that. When I got another guardian, Itachi had already left and Sasuke wasn't the same anymore. Everything had changed._

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Yes, I did know that look. The second time had been when I was eleven. My niece had come home drunk and hit me. She was an aggressive drunk. I hid outside beneath my tree and I would have stayed there until she was sober, if it had not been for Sasuke. It must have remembered him of when we were small, because he practically dragged me to his house and kept me there for a week. Not a very pleasant week, I must say. Orochimaru being the reason why. Him and the fact Sasuke and I still pretty much hated each other of course. I was glad when I finally got to go back. My niece hadn't been the worst of my guardians. She was just too young and had a horrible boyfriend. (At least I thought he was horrible.) In the end, I was pretty disappointed when she left. She had been pregnant and couldn't afford the baby AND me. (The boyfriend also refused to raise his child with me.)

So yes, I really knew that look. And I also knew I had about twenty seconds to clear things up. "NO, no, no, no, no! He didn't do anything. I just fell out of bed." His eyes narrowed. "Against my nightstand, teme! Gee, would it kill you to just believe me?!"

"Hn." He shrugged - or maybe his shoulders just had a spasm, I don't know, it was a very very small contraction – and walked back to his seat, perfectly happy to ignore me again. I shook my head and started putting his gifts in my backpack.

"Naruto?" I almost had a heart attack. The girls stood huddled close around my desk, eying me intentionally. Ino stole a look at the gift in my backpack. "Why did Sasuke give you that?" She pointed the chocolates and looked over her shoulder to Sasuke, the latter noticed and glared at here. She quickly turned back.

"It's my birthday." The girls made some surprised noises, before congratulating me. Hinata however decided to come back on the previous question.

"W-why does he give you a present i-if you hate each other?" She blushed and intensively started studying the back of one of the seed packages. I shrugged.

"It's not because you hate each other, that you can't be polite." I see now that something lacked in those logics, but back then it just made sense. The girls didn't spend any more thought on it anyway, so it didn't matter.

"Naruto, we have to celebrate! But when? Tonight is Christmas evening already." Sakura giggled. "You're a Christmas baby, Naruto."

"I know what!" Ino held up a finger. "You should totally come to the New Year's party with us. We can celebrate there and I'll buy you a drink too." Uh?

"What party?"

"You never went to THE New Year's party before?" Ino asked (read: screamed) disbelievingly.

"No, why? Should I?" I asked cautiously. What if it was dumb if you hadn't gone already.

"You are definitely coming with us than. You just have to have done this in your life!" Sukara said, before going into detail about what I should wear. It ended with her deciding she would come over to help me pick clothes, since she was pretty sure I couldn't dress myself.

"Wow, wait, I'll have to ask Iruka first! I don't know if he'll let me go to a party anyway. Especially on New year's eve" I did want to go, but I couldn't risk saying yes, if I had to cancel later. Iruka had already planned a dinner with a couple of other teachers and some old friends.

"Okay, I just really hope you'll be there. The party is amazing and after the countdown there are always fireworks." The girls nodded in agreement, while Lee popped up out of nowhere.

"You're coming to the New year's party? Great! I can't wait to start the new year with my new best friend." This little notification was accompanied with hands clasped in bliss and a skyward gaze. And… were those sparkles in his eyes? I must have been seeing things. Next he turned to look at me.

" Oh, Naruto!" Lee's face turned shocked. "What happened to your beautiful young face?!" Not again. I hit my head against my desk miserably. I'd have to kill Kurama for this.

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_Nehe, it's over. Not the story, the chapter !_

_I really can't believe I did that to little Naruto. *hugs him*_

_I just wrote and… *poof* it was written. Little Sasuke is nice, isn't he? _

_I guess he only got screwed up when Itachi left, so… it's okay right?_

_I also liked teasing Naruto with the bruise. I got the idea from a couple of years ago._

_I had to put this white cream on my lips and people kept asking what was wrong with my lips. I really was almost depressive at the end of the day. The bruise was after a girl had been hit by her sister. That bruise really took the most amazing colors ever seen on human skin: normal blue, red and purple, but also yellow and green! Some aggressive sister that was…_

_I hope you liked it. And please give me some tips people!_

_(No I'm not begging. I know you all think I do, but I'm really only asking politely, huh.)_


	4. Wait, is this a wedding party?

**Disclaimer:** Naruto nor any of the other character are mine! *sighs* Do I really have to keep repeating this?

**Warning:** If you see crazy teachers, attempting to give you messed up assignments, lie down and keep still until someone comes to help you. If no one comes, best luck.

**Wait, is this a wedding party?**

"You got a pink pencil?" Sakura asked, already skipping through the pencils on my desk.

"No, sorry." I said. She sighed and went over to Chouji's desk. I shook my head. Couldn't she just ask the class instead of asking everyone separately? She asked Sasuke first of course. My suspicions of her liking him got stronger every minute she spent in his presence. There was giggling, blushing and the constant (failed) attempts of talking to him. He, being the heartless person that he is, ignored her completely of course. Bastard. I sighed and continued finishing my work. I skipped through my pencils, seeking just the right color, but didn't have it.

"Hey, Ino. You got brown?" Ino quickly scanned her desk, before picking the requested pencil and handing it to me.

"That's the right color, huh?" She asked. "I didn't exactly pay attention to his hair color when I went to class."

"Yes, it is. Thank you." I said, taking the pencil from her hand. It actually wasn't exact the same color, but hey it didn't have to be that accurate. Like anyone would recognize him anyway. I added the latest color, before nodding and looking at my work approvingly. "Done"

"When you're done, you can put your drawing in front along with the others." Mister Kakashi motioned the chalk board. There were already a lot of drawings on it. I sought out a nice spot in the middle of the board and attached my drawing to it.

"You sure took a lot of time drawing that!" Ino said suddenly from behind me. She had apparently followed me up to here. "You got far less people to draw and still took more time than the others." She pointed the drawing, laughing. "And look. What did you do to Iruka's hair. It's like it's blown up."

"We can't all be artist." I pouted, crossing my arms.

"Oh, don't listen to her Naruto. I think your drawing is beautiful. " Lee said (very loudly), while putting up his drawing. I rubbed the back of my head laughing. Was there something Lee didn't like in this world? "Thanks, Lee"

"I think his drawing looks like shit." I turned my head to stare at the very rude boy that stood beside me. It was the weird one named Sai. "What did you say?"

"I said that a toddler could draw better than you." Sai stated, smiling brightly. The smile was kind of creepy . Way too nice. It looked like a I'm-smiling-at-you-but-inside-I'm-planning-to-kill-you kind of smile. You know, the one psychopaths use?

"Excuse me? Who asked you for your opinion?" I asked offended.

"I'm free to give my opinion." Sai said, his voice still calm. I wondered if maybe he took lessons from Sasuke. "It's not my fault you're not man enough to take it."

"WHAT!? Listen up buddy, if you think you can just talk to me like that, the-"

"Okay , class! Take your seats." I think this guy really did it on purpose. I kept glaring daggers at Sai, but returned to my seat nonetheless.

"Okay, look at the board and tell me what you see. Sasuke?" Sasuke turned his head towards Kakashi and answered, his voice free from any emotion like usual. I hated that.

"It's our families, Sir."

"Good, Sasuke. As you all can see all our families are different. Some people have animals." He motioned a drawing with a cat in it. "Some have brothers and sisters." He motioned the drawing of the freaky redhead in our class. Yes, we do have a lot of freaky people in this school. "Some of us have only one parent." I winced as he motioned Sasuke's and my drawing. We both had only one person on them beside ourselves. He Orochimaru, I Iruka.

"Now, sadly enough, more and more families get separated nowadays. Couples get divorced more often. It has even come to the point that about half of the marriages lead back to divorce. A shame, isn't it?" He looked around the class and I noticed some people were nodding. I could agree with them too. If I ever found someone I loved and who loved me back, I would do anything to keep them by my side.

"Well then, in that case you will appreciate the special assignment I'm going to give you." He smirked. "I'm going to put you all in teams of two. You'll be 'married' as long as this assignment lasts. You'll get different tasks to fulfill as the time goes on. To make things more difficult, I'll be teaming you up with someone you can't stand. If you can handle working with them, it will make you more flexible if you get in a real marriage later in life. Okay, now for the teams. First couple will be Sakura and Ino."

I frowned. Weren't they friends? I thought you had to team up with someone who you didn't like? I turned to glare at Sai. I really didn't like that guy. Would Kakashi team me up with him?

"Couple number seven. Naruto," I quickly turned to listen. "and Sasuke." Oh, god. I turned to stare at my so-called teammate. He was staring back the same way I did, minus the shocked expression. No way! I had to work with him?

"Okay, that's all. I want you to spend at least two days together during this vacation. Learn a little about your partner. You'll take pictures to prove you really accomplished your task. Enjoy your holidays. Class dismissed." Our teacher popped out his book and started reading, seemingly not aware that he just kicked me straight to Hell. Defeated, I buried my head in my arms. I really should have picked Photography: I was doomed to fail this class.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII

"Sasuke, hurry up! We're going to be late!" I rolled over on my stomach, watching the boy from his bed. He was still sitting at his desk, refusing to put on different clothes.

"I'm not going." I rolled my eyes. The bastard could be so difficult sometimes. Okay, that's not true. He's difficult all the time. I propped my head up on my arms.

"Yes, you are. You rather spent New Year with Orochimaru ?"

"Maybe I do." He said, narrowing his eyes. Okay, enough of this. I got up from his bed, walked to his closet and started pulling out various items. Deeming most of them unsuitable, I tossed them to the floor, not caring where they landed. Sasuke didn't like that.

"What are you doing?" His voice had a hint of aggravation, but I ignored it. He was going whether he liked it or not.

"I'm picking out your clothes." I said as I kept working through the clothes, the pile on the floor continuing to grow. "God, you got tons of black in here, but no suit ?"

"It's in the other closet." I raised my eyebrow at him in question, but he just shrugged – or maybe it was a spasm again. Shaking my head, I pulled open the doors of the other closet. My jaw dropped.

"Teme! How many suits do you possibly need?" I asked, turning to stare at him. He only shrugged. Yes, I think it was really shrugging this time.

"Some people have places to go. My parents are business people, remember?" I inspected the closet again. There were at least five suits in there. They were all black and had a white dress shirt underneath them. Since they all looked the same, I picked out the one far left and threw in Sasuke's hands.

"Here put these on. And hurry up. You don't want me to come and dress you up myself." I turned to throw the rest of the clothes back in the closet, therefore missing the smirk that appeared on Sasuke's face. I didn't bother to fold them again, that was something the bastard could do himself. He should already be grateful I was dragging his sorry ass to the party.

"You're done?" I asked, throwing the last piece of –you can't guess- black clothing in the closet and closing it. I turned to face him again. Apparently he was not. The raven seemed to have a strange way to dress. He already had his black pants and shoes on, but was currently pulling out his shirt. Who the hell dress themselves in that order ?

I watched as he pulled his shirt over his head and noticed he was pretty muscular. Not that he had a six-pack or anything, but his muscles were well toned and I could see now why the girls found him hot. Not that I thought that he was hot. No! But I mean, he was muscular, well-built and his face wasn't that bad either, so it was more like a fact, huh? Something you can't deny. His hair always seemed to lie perfect too (in it's very unique, laws-of-nature-defying way, that is).

Beside those things, his eyes were like two black whirlpools, ready to suck you right in if you dared looking in them too long. Yes, those were pretty breathtaking -if they weren't trying to evaporate you. And then - last, but not least - you got his skin. It was pale –he could compete with a polar bear, milk and even white paper- and was very smooth. I bet if you touched it, it would feel as silk. I hadn't really paid attention to it during our fights, but it seemed so smooth, it had to feel soft. Maybe I could try and feel next time we got in a fight. Only to confirm my assumption of course, not because I wanted too. Nope. Not a chance.

"Dobe, stop staring." Sasuke was attempting to glare at me, but him holding his dress shirt in front of him to cover his bare chest was kind of counteracting the whole glaring-menacingly-thing.

"What, you're a girl or something? Just pull on the damn dress shirt and get ready." He grumbled something, still glaring at me and continued to pull on his things. If I hadn't been sure it was Sasuke standing in front of me, I would have sworn I saw a faint blush on the boy's cheeks. But Sasuke being a the robot that he is, this was impossible of course. I was waiting for him to finish when my cellphone started ringing. Not caring to check the caller ID, I flipped it open and pressed it to my ear. "Hey."

"NARUTO UZUMAKI! Where the hell are you?!" I winced and pulled the phone away from my now abused ear as Sakura's voice echoed through the silent room. "I've been standing at your door for the last ten minutes, ringing your doorbell, but you're not answering it!"

Oh, shit! I forgot she was coming to pick my clothes! I was so dead now!

My face must have betrayed what I was thinking since Sasuke smirked. "Who's calling?"

"Sakura." His face fell and I had to do my best not to laugh at him. So Uchiha's did have weak points.

"Don't tell her you're here." Now it was my turn to smirk. Mentally rubbing my hands in evil anticipation, I put the phone back to my ear. "Hey, Sakura! Sorry about that. I'm over at Sasuke's house. You can come over if you want." Sasuke stared at me in shock. God, this was fun. Not even one second later the doorbell rang.

"Sasuke be kind and go open the door? You don't want to make your guest wait, now, do you?" I said in the sweetest voice I could muster. I'm pretty sure he wanted to smack the grin right from my face as he stomped past, mumbling threats. "You're so going to pay for this."

"Oh, Sasuke! You look so good! I didn't know you were going to the party too?!" I peeked my head over the rail of the landing to see Sakura standing in the doorway, blushing heavenly. Yes, she liked the bastard all right. I shook my head slightly, mentally sighing. Now it would be up to me to do something about it. Sakura was way to colorful and bright to date the ice prince, besides I could tell Lee liked her. Lee maybe was a little enthusiastic, but I liked him anyway. He was a good guy and he deserved a good girl like Sakura.

"I wasn't going to. The dobe kept bugging me. I'm just going for him to shut up." Sasuke said, closing the door.

"Ah, that's not true, teme! You know you wanna watch the fireworks, besides be grateful I'm taking you, without me you wouldn't have any fun in your life at all!" I teased. I got one of his glares in return.

"Whatever. Let's go. We were done anyway." He walked toward his living room, probably to get his keys. I trotted down the stair, inspecting Sakura's outfit. She looked (as always) very good. Her was pinned up in a bun, but a few strands were hanging lose to frame her face. The dress she was wearing was long and pink, the end of the dress almost reaching the floor. There were flowers printed on the side of the dress and end of the sleeves, in a darker kind of pink. It really suited her.

"Hey, Sakura. You look beautiful!" The girl giggled, before saying thanks. Once she tried to comment on my clothing however, Sasuke emerged from the kitchen, successfully pulling our attention away from each other.

"Enough chatting. Let's get moving." He said, opening the door and gesturing for us to go outside. We did and once we were out and he was buzzy locking the door, I quickly snuck my hand in his side pocket. "What are you-"

"I'm driving!" I screamed, waving his car keys victoriously in the air, before quickly running to his car. He was quickly behind me. "No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am! I'm driving. I'm driving" I singsonged, while quickly getting in the front of his car.

"Naruto, get out!" I shook my head and he scowled. "You're not driving my car. Can you even drive?"

"Of course I can." I put my head on the now open window and looked up at him. "Nah, teme. You'll let me drive, won't you? Even bastards as you can't be mean on New Year's eve!"

"I can and I will, now get out." He crossed his arms, giving me the I'm-stronger-than-you-so-do-as-I-say-look. Bastard had the same superiority complex Kurama had.

"Let me drive as a New Year's gift than!" He shook his head. Not working? Okay, new tactic. I put on the most innocent face I could muster and pouted at him, while giving him my puppy-face look. "Why not? You want me to say please? I can do that. Would you let me drive please, pretty please with sugar and cherry's and sprinkles on top?" I said in my sweetest voice, batting my eyelashes ridiculously. Yeah, I know it's a pretty lame tactic, but at least it works when I want Iruka to make me ramen! I was going to use any technique I knew in order to get to drive.

"Hn." Sasuke was pulling of a funny face, before rolling his eyes and getting to the other side of the car. "If you break him, I'll kill you." I smiled, clicking my seatbelt into place. This evening was starting of good. I felt it, this was going to be a great night.

Oh, how wrong I had been.

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_End of this chapter, it wasn't very, ugh, exciting? But it was necessary._

_Next chapter stuff will happen, I promise ^^_

_Now be kind and get me some useful criticism. :D_

_I want to improve badly. *pouts*_


	5. Cold feet

_*blinks* Is that a comment? It is!_

_Well, since it says I should continue, I will. Who am I to refuse?_

_To everyone who might read this, or just feels like answering, give me some ideas for the other couples, people! I don't know what to choose, so I let it up to you (keep it reasonable)_

_All those teenagers: there just have to be other couples._

**Disclaimer:** Naruto's not mine. Nor are any of the other characters. Isn't that the whole point of this site? Writing about characters that aren't yours?

**Warning:** Some foul language and a major lack in communication.

**Cold feet**

"I'm going to get something to drink."

"Oh, can you get something for me too?" I asked quickly, already getting some money to give to him.

"No."

"Okay, here's the- Wait. WHAT?" I scowled.

"I said no. If you want something to drink you can get it yourself." Sasuke said, turning away and starting to walk to the bar.

"Hey, bastard wait! The hell? Why not?" I ran after him and grabbed his wrist to hold him back.

"Why would I?" He asked, calmly looking me in the eyes, a slight scowl on his face.

Really? I take him to a party and he doesn't want to get me a drink while I asked it nicely.

"Hmmm… I don't know. Let's see… That's right! I'm the reason you're here! " I said poking him in the chest. "And maybe you could just do it because I asked or didn't you learn any manners?"

"Don't touch me." He smacked my hand away and tugged at his arm, looking down when it stayed trapped. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think this isn't really the place and time to be holding hands?" He asked in a mock tone of voice.

"Teme!" I quickly let go of his wrist, blushing slightly. Why did the bastard have to say it like that! I was holding his wrist damnit! Not holding his damn hand!

"Nah, wait! Where are you going?! Come back! We were not done yet." I followed him again, not taking his wrist this time. Stupid, teme. Always being dramatic about everything.

"Yes, we are. So quit it. We're at the bar already, so you can do it yourself anyway." He hissed, getting his wallet to pay. "Orange juice please."

Orange juice? Really? He really had no taste. I shook my head and ordered wine myself, making sure to glare at Sasuke while I did. Take that! We waited quietly for the bartender to get our orders ready, heads turned away from each other, when one of my favorite songs started playing.

"I love that song!" I shouted , turning to Sasuke, already moving my head on the beat of the music.

"Could you-?" I glanced over to the bartender who was still busy. "I really want to dance."

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead I'll take it." He said, rolling his eyes. Sasuke thought dancing was something for idiots. Ass. I smirked and got onto the dance floor. Just another reason to get him to dance later.

Getting into the rhythm, I started to move more quickly, shaking and jumping like crazy. The alcohol I already had, was making my movements looser. And no, I was not drunk. Tipsy at most. I wasn't risking that. Iruka would never let me go to a party again! But it was just enough to make things go smoother.

Three songs later and still dancing, I noticed Sasuke watching me from the side of the dance floor, both of our drinks in his hands. He smirked when I saw him and went closer. "Was that dancing or did something crawl up in your pants?"

"HEY! For your information, I am a ver-" Further than that I didn't get in my ranting, because I received a hard push in the back, which had me toppling over. For a few seconds Sasuke was coming an awful lot closer, the next moment I was wet. I opened my eyes – which I apparently had closed at some point – to check what had exactly happened, finding myself in Sasuke's arms, my shirt covered in drinks and the bastard himself glaring menacingly. I blinked twice, when I noticed it wasn't me he was glaring at, but something behind my back. "Why did you do that?"

I shuddered unintentionally. His voice was low like a growl. I thought he was trying to scare me normally? God, compared to this, his angry voice was really nice. "Oh, I didn't see him there, sorry!"

Oh, no! Not him! I turned around and immediately backed away as Sai was leaning too close into my personal space. I admit: he was still a meter or so away, but for him my personal bubble was at least five meters wide. You got to be careful with psychopaths.

"I saw you explicitly push him, Sai! " Sasuke growled, narrowing his eyes even further.

"How smart of you." Sai commented, stepping a little closer. I probably would have stepped back even further if it hadn't been for the fact I was already backed up against Sasuke's chest. "So I pushed him, what are you gonna do? It's clearly not my fault he's such a girl that he can't take a little push."

Okay, enough! I was going to knock that psychotically-sweet-smile right from his face. Taking a few steps forward, I saw his smile only get wider and felt I wasn't really going anywhere. "What-?!"

"Just leave him, dobe. He's not worth the attention." Sasuke was holding me back on my shoulders, keeping me from hitting the rat. "Come on." I was dragged along, being held firmly around my upper arm. A little dazed from the sudden change in behavior – I mean he looked like he was about to kill Sai moments ago – I didn't really look where we were going. And when I finally felt the cold air hitting my chest, my attention only got drawn to the red-yellow stain on my nice white dress shirt. "Aw! He totally killed my good shirt! That asshole!" I looked at Sasuke and pouted.

"How am I gonna party with my shirt ruined?" He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Why do you think we're on the parking lot? The good seats?" Huh?

I looked around and saw we were heading for Sasuke's car. "Why are we here?"

"For the exact same problem you were just nagging about." He said, clicking his trunk open and pulling out a bag. "Here you go." He said, opening the bag and giving one of the dress shirts inside to me. He took out one himself too and I noticed he also got some of the drinks on his shirt.

"Euh..thanks." I pulled my stained shirt over my head, instantly shivering from the cold, and quickly started to put on the other one. Sasuke smirked and did the same. "No thanks. We don't want you to start this new year all dirty now, do we?"

Okay. Weird. I bet this was his wicked kind of humor. Was I supposed to laugh or something?

"I guess…" I said, waiting for the bastard to finish. For a boy he was pretty slow when getting dressed. "So.." I bit my lower lip a little, not feeling comfortable with the silence, while Sasuke was buttoning his shirt awfully slow. "Why do you have dress shirts lying in the back of your car? I didn't saw you put them in there."

Closing the last button, he looked at me, a strange look on his face, before answering. "Rule number one in our family: never go somewhere without spare clothes. Multiple spare clothes in my case."

"Why?"

"Girls tend to drop their drinks over me to get my attention."

"Oh, I get it." I nodded, before frowning "Wait, I don't get it, why would they do that?" He shrugged.

"It's their weird way of starting a conversation."

"Ow." I shook my head, mentally scowling at those stupid girls. "That must be pretty annoying."

"It is." He closed his trunk again, locking it. "Come on, let's get back inside."

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"Say cheese!" Ino giggled, snapping a picture of a posing Sakura. "Great! Hey, Naruto!"

"Yes?" I turned my head from the table I and the other boys – Sasuke, Shikamaru and Kiba – were sitting at, to look at the blonde. "Can you take a picture from the both of us? That way we can prove Kakashi we were together."

"That's a great idea!" I shouted, jumping out of my seat and pulling the bastard along with me.

"WHAT-?"

"We can get a picture too! That way we only have to spend one day together apart from this one." I interrupted him, while snapping a picture of Sakura and Ino.

"But-!"

"Yeah, I know, but those few minutes we spent shoveling the snow from our driveways didn't really count! You'll really just have to deal another day with me, Sasuke." I interrupted again, shaking my head slightly annoyed. Geez, was it so difficult to just spend another day with me?

"That's no-" I didn't let him finish as I flung my arm around his neck and pulled him closer.

"Just stop complaining! You should be glad the girls thought of this, otherwise it would be two days. Now." I handed the camera over to Sakura and placed my head next to his. "Say cheese!"

I grinned widely as the camera flashed, holding my hand up in a peace sign. Then Sakura handed over the camera and looking at it, I frowned. "Teme, you're not smiling."

"This assignment didn't require us to smile." He huffed angrily, before stalking off into the crowd.

I just stood there and stared after him. What had gotten into that bastard?

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The rest of the evening went by pretty quickly. After I took about half an hour tracking down Sasuke –who, once found, claimed to have gone to get another drink- , everything went by in a rush. We laughed and talked and I almost got Sasuke to dance. Of course, since the bastard is no fun, I ended up dancing with him standing fuming next to me. Well, I guessed there was always next time.

It was only when I heard people start counting down that I realized how late it already was.

It didn't take long for me, however, to join in and scream.

"Five!"

"Four!" I smiled at Sakura who came to stand next to me.

"Three!" I dragged Sasuke out of his seat to stand next to us.

"Two!" Sasuke was kind of half-glaring, half-smirking at me now.

"One! Happy New year!" Everyone screamed along, sharing kisses , hugs and toasts. I turned aside, ready to give Sakura her new year's kiss. She was smiling, not really noticing me as I went closer, to busy exchanging toasts with Ino. I smirked and carefully crept closer to give her a surprise kiss.

What better way for a prankster than to start the new year with a little prank? None thus.

I leant a little closer and… felt something wet against my own cheek instead.

"What the hell?!" I screamed, leaping off of my feet a little, while turning to see who did that. I was met with the face of a smirking Sasuke. "Happy New Year, dobe. What's wrong? Did I scare you or are you just in chock, because you never got kissed before?"

Ow, that evil bastard! Playing pranks on me like that!

I flushed a little, because he was kind of right: I never got kissed before. Kind of.

But never mind! That was not the point! He fucking stole my first new year's kiss that I had especially reserved for Sakura! "Teme, stop messing around! You just stole Sakura's kiss!"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Sakura's kiss?" He questioned.

"Well, yeah." I mumbled, blushing brightly. "I kind of wanted to give my first kiss of this new year to her."

Why did I have to explain everything? She was a nice girl! And a new friend of mine! Why not give it to a new friend? A great start for a year full of luck.

"Moron."

"Whatever." I said, for once deciding to ignore him. I had more important matters to attend to, like giving an earlier mentioned girl a kiss for instance. Before I could do that however, a loud bang was heard and I turned my head around to see where it came from.

"What was that?" I questioned, now being noticed by Sakura.

"It's the fireworks!" She answered, screaming.

Fireworks?! All thoughts of kissing Sakura temporarily forgotten, I turned back around to tug at Sasuke's sleeve. "Fireworks, teme! Come and watch!"

Sasuke didn't need to be told twice and before I knew it we were outside. The huge lawn that surrounded the place was crowded with people, all of them searching a comfortable spot to watch the fireworks. Finding a place seemed impossible. Bummer.

"Come." Sasuke said, grabbing my hand to drag me off to the side of the lawn. Clearly he didn't mind 'impossible' situations.

"Where are we going? The lawn is full!" I asked as I let my eyes search for an open spot in the sea of people. Did I miss one? Sasuke just looked over his shoulder and smirked.

"Who said we're watching from the lawn?" Huh?

"What?" Now I was confused. Sasuke shook his head and kept dragging me along. We crossed the street and halted in front of a tree. "See." He said, motioning the tree to get in.

Finally understanding what he was getting at, I got up in the tree, a huge grin spreading over my face. Sasuke got up too and sat next to me. A couple of minutes later we were seated securely on a solid branch, watching the spectacle in front of us.

As I looked aside, I noticed Sasuke was smiling. Barely noticeable, I admit, but Sasuke never smiled anymore, so it was kind of stunning. It reminded me of the Sasuke I once knew; the Sasuke I was friends with. It made him look so much nicer, that smile. And it was a sight I only was graced with once a year. On New year's eve, when we watched the fireworks together.

A plan suddenly formed in my head and I quietly slipped the Sakura's camera out of my pocket. I had taken photos the rest of the evening, so I still had it on me. Carefully not to draw his attention, I pointed the camera and clicked. FLASH.

"What the hell!?" Sasuke yelled as he nearly fell out of the tree. Okay, not planned.

"Whoops, sorry!" I said, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. Sasuke kept blinking and rubbing his eyes in order to get his vision back. It was kind of comical to see and I had to do my best not to laugh. As I remembered I was still in a tree and if I went laughing at him, I wouldn't stay there for long. I personally still liked my body in one piece.

"I took another picture." I explained as soon as he could see again and sent me a questioning look. I shoved the camera under his nose and he looked at it. "See teme, you really can smile!"

I snickered a little. "Kakashi will love this one. One of a kind!" Sasuke looked at me in disbelief.

"What?"

"Still the assignment?" He looked a tad bit angry. "Give that to me."

He snatched the camera out of my hands and climbed out of the tree. I just watched as he walked off.

"Where are you going?!"

"Home."

"Wait, what?" I asked, quickly climbing out of the tree myself. "What about me and Sakura?!"

"Fetch a ride from Kiba." He said, looking over his shoulder and glaring at me. "Or even better: walk Sakura home. You seem to like spending time with her anyway."

With that he turned around and stalked off for the second time that night. There I stood, rooted to the ground, under that tree. No ride back and a pissed of teme.

I blinked twice and tried processing what just had happened. I had learned that the best method for doing that, was going over the events, step by step.

Okay, let's try this.

We were sitting in the tree, everything was fine. Okay, no problem here.

I noticed Sasuke was smiling and took a photo. Still no problem.

Sasuke noticed the photo and looked at it. Apart from him being a little dazed, everything was still fine.

I told him he actually could smile and that Kakashi will be happy. Result: a pissed Sasuke.

Problem rating? HUUUGE!

Conclusion? Either the bastard had some serious complexes with being captured on photo or he had a huge problem with the fact he had to do this assignment with me. I figured it was the last one.

Scowling in the direction Sasuke disappeared, I cursed.

Working with me wasn't that bad!

"TEME!"

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_So… was that okay? _

_I normally don't go to parties, unless my niece drags me there, so I guess I can relate to Sasuke._

_Too much people, I don't like dancing, don't like alcohol._

_God, I loathe alcohol. I'm normally silent and well behaved (kind of)._

_I'm afraid if I would drink any alcohol, I would end up as a slutty/angry/babbling/hyperactive drunk/_

_Probably all at the same time O.O_

_In case you didn't read before: I need your opinion on other couples!_

_Just give your ideas, otherwise there may be no other couples at all and let's be honest:_

_That would be pathetic._


	6. Quality time

**Yeah, I'm being lazy. School is busy. My godmother died…**

**I may not write during weekdays…**

**Lots of reason to be this late. **

**And you guys! Give me ideas for the other couples!**

**Disclaimer:** Naruto's not mine. Nor are any of the other characters.

**Warning:** I think nothing…

**Quality time**

"Just a little higher.

Okay, now my foot here and then I can place my hand like this.

Yes. Almost there."

I hold tighter onto the wood, as I tried to find a steady grip on the surface with my feet.

The wood was a little slippery from the frozen dew, but I could make it. Sasuke would never see this coming, not in a million years. Yes, it was definitely my best plan yet; even better than that time I-

"Dobe, what are you doing?"

"Aah!" I almost lost my footing as Sasuke's voice sounded from behind me.

Sneaky bastard. I hadn't even heard him coming. Nothing I could do though.

I was busted; caught in the act to be precise.

"You're gonna explain or what?" I looked down from my place on his porch to see him raising an eyebrow at me and smiled sheepishly.

"Euhm… would you believe me if I said I was comparing the sun levels on both our porches?"

"Well, I would," My heart jumped up in hope "if you weren't, one, a dobe who isn't capable of such complex thinking, and, two, asking if I would believe you. So now tell me what you're really doing and get the hell off of my porch." And there it was kicked right back down.

I struggled a little trying to get down, finally getting there by landing on my bud.

I stood, rubbing my tailbone vigorously. Gosh, that hurt.

"Well?" Sasuke stared at me impatiently.

"Gee, bastard. Can't you give me a minute?! In case you didn't notice, I just fell 3 feet down!

And thanks for the help by the way." I added sarcastically.

"It's your own fault." He shrugged.

I sent him the filthiest glare I could muster and rubbed my bud some more.

I could feel the stinging pain up into my lower back and I was seriously hoping it wasn't broken.

"Ahem." A dry cough snapped me back to reality, in which Sasuke was still staring impatiently at me.

"Oh, yeah. I was going to explain, wasn't I? Well…," I rubbed my the back of my head pensively. How was I going to word this without getting my bud kicked? "You see… I was going to sneak up in your room and Sasuke-nap you to finish our assignment." Yeah, so maybe there wasn't a good way in putting this.

I tensed a little, ready to fend off the hit that would follow my explanation, but was left unharmed as Sasuke just kept staring at me. An awkward silence followed in which I decided it would be an excellent idea to study the texture of the ground. I was busy for a while, doing just that and then… he chuckled.

Now, you got to me excuse for snapping my head back up and staring at him, my mouth hanging ungraciously agape. , when he did that. I mean…he chuckled. For your information: Sasukes don't chuckle. So it's shocking okay?

"How where you planning on doing that? We all know I'm stronger than you."

"HEY!" He shook his head, ignoring me.

"Besides we already spent time together. We don't have to spend any more time, so there's no need in kidnapping me."

"We don't have photos of it and cleaning up our gardens, shoveling the driveways and holding

A marathon in the park isn't 'spending time', teme!"

"It is." Stupid wiseacre. "But we indeed don't have photos… so what we're going to do?" He asked, looking at me questioningly.

"Euhm… I don't know. What do you normally do?"

"Read." I snorted. Figured asocial-person-number-one would do something boring like that.

"Boring! I want to do something fun!"

"What you consider fun, usually isn't, dobe." Bastard, always skeptical. I'd prove him wrong! Now an idea… What to do on a snowy cold day? It took about 5 seconds for a great idea to hit me. "We could go ice skating!"

"No."

"Aah, why not?"

"I don't want to."

"You can't skate? Afraid of the ice? Wait I now! You're traumatized, because you were sent to ice-ballet when you were little, aren't you? Bad memories of tutus and pirouettes and all?" I don't know what I ate, but I was spinning in circles with my hand above my head by now, imitating a pretty ballerina. Sasuke's jaw was clenched pretty hard, so I didn't exactly mind I looking like a fool, I was having too much fun to notice.

"I won't go, so stop it. We can go to a movie." He snapped. I stopped twirling around and shook my head. "No, that's no fun. You always pick boring movies!"

"Then you pick, okay? Let's just get this over with." That was just fine with me and as soon I had looked up to the sky and made sure it was still hanging there, I decided Sasuke was just tired and didn't complain any further. Who would throw away a chance like this?

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"Can we see them again?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why not? We'll… we'll get you some ramen!"

"Sakura, that's bribe and I said no! God, they're just pictures! LET. IT. GO!" I scowled at the girls angrily, hoping they would return to their places. I had no such luck though. Mister Kakashi was late and Sakura and Ino had been keeping my desk hostage ever since the beginning of the lesson. That was ten minutes ago now and they were seriously starting to annoy me.

"They're not just pictures! Look at them, they have Sasuke in them and on one of them, he's smiling." Ino made an exaggerating hand gesture and tried once again to get the pictures out of my backpack. "Ino, back off that's my assignment." I said smacking her hand away. It didn't help a lot, since they were pretty persistent. Why, oh why was I so stupid to show them this morning in the first place.

'You were just proud, you did your job so well.' A little voice in my head whispered. Yes, I seriously needed these girls of my back, 'cause they were driving me crazy; literally. Shushing the non-excitant voice in my head, I turned to the lazy Shikamaru, who happened to be in this class too. I hadn't even noticed the first time. He really had talent in going unnoticed, probably learned that from avoiding shores.

"Dude, help a little!" I only got a lazy stare.

"Come on, I'm dying here!" This time Shikamaru shrugged. "You know you could good just give them some pictures. Could make great money out of it."

"Yes! We'll give some money for it" Sakura nearly squealed my ears off. Ino was already digging for her wallet. These girls were Unbelievable. No way I was selling those pictures to them. This was not healthy anymore. Besides I worked for them, earned them fair and square.

"I'm not giving you those pictures!"

"WHY NOT!" Sakura and Ino screamed in unison.

" Because they're mine!" I screamed back. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sasuke smirk. That bastard was just enjoying my pain, wasn't he.

"Bu-" It was that moment that Mister Kakashi decided to end my suffering and finally step into the classroom.

"Sorry I'm a little late, I was helping an old lady cross the street. Now return to your seats."

The girls seemed a little resistant. "You two too, ladies. Stop torturing our poor Naruto."

"Hey!" If there was one thing I was not then it was poor. I crossed my arms and slumped against the back of my seat. Stupid guy.

The rest of the lesson consisted of all of us telling each other about our "quality time".

Well, when it was our turn, of course, I did the talking, trying to get over the giggles about our pictures, while Sasuke just stood there, hn-ing every few words. The last group was Lee and Gaara.

If you thought Sasuke was silent, well think again. Gaara just stood there in front, not saying a single word, while Lee just kept talking and talking and saying things about the fun he had had with his youthful companion.

"Okay, that's enough Lee, thank you. If you talk anymore, Gaara might kill you." Kakashi was all smiles saying that, but I thought it was darn serious judging by the way Gaara was looking.

"Right, class!" Mister Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Our next assignment will be extra fun. We'll have a two-day-dropping!"

"What's a dropping?" Chouji asked. By the way our teacher was smiling, I was a little scared to hear the answer.

"It's easy! You'll all be blindfolded and given a map. Next we'll drive all groups separately to certain points in the woods. It's your job to work together and find your way back!"

My face must have paled considerably. Two days. Alone. In the woods. With Sasuke.

Only one thought could describe my current feeling. "Oh fuck."


	7. Wedding night

**_Another chapter for you guys, I had fun with this. I hope you do to._**

**Disclaimer:** Sadly enough Naruto's not mine. Nor are any of the other characters.

**Warning:** Besides some killer intent and some name-calling? Nothing.

**Wedding night**

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"How much longer is it going to take?" I asked, shifting slightly in my seat. I could feel the teme

tense a little, I was probably bursting his personal bubble with all my fidgeting. Not that that was hard, I mean, you'd burst his bubble even if you were standing 9 feet away.

"Naruto, if you're not going to shut that big mouth of yours and stop moving, I'm going to personally kick you out the back of this van." Tch. As if he could. I shifted again and I could hear him growl in warning. Like I was doing it on purpose! I mean it felt like we had been sitting in this van for hours and in case I didn't tell you yet: I'm not good in sitting still, it makes me nervous.

I switched position again and this time I got shoved of the bench we were sitting on. "Ah, bastard. No fair!" I could hear him doing something between growling and snorting, while I tried to get back into my seat. I say tried, because instead of doing just that, I ended up in his lap. "Get off!"

I was shoved hard once again and ended on the floor. Getting sick of this I yelled. "You know what I'm going to sit with Sakura. At least she's nice and not complaining over everything!" He snorted. "Good luck with that."

I stomped off angrily, okay wobbled off angrily to the other side of the van to plump down next to the earlier mentioned girl. There I slung my arm over her shoulder, making contact with her hair. It felt incredibly soft, so I moved to run my hand through her hair. "Wow, Sakura, you're hair's just like silk. How do you get it this soft?"

"Eh, Naruto. It's not my hair you're touching." I heard Sakura say from my right. Instead of dropping my hand that instant, I kept combing the hair in my hands. My body sometimes needs some time to adjust to the commands my brain sends. My brain, in turn, needs some time to process the information it's given. "So…who is it then?" I asked still continuing my actions.

"Well, Naruto. I'll tell you since I think Hinata may faint if I don't. So please stop combing , so her blood may return to the rest of her body. Although it seems very comfy in here face, it's very needed elsewhere." Our teacher explained. I immediately let go of the girl stuttering out some apology.

" Ehhehe. Sorry, Hinata. Thought you were Sakura…"

"So how does your hair really feel?" I asked now turning to my right and running my hand through Sakura's long pink hair. I expected it to be a little rough from dyeing, but was easily surprised. "Oh, wow! It's even softer than Hinata's! What type of conditioner do you use?!" I leaned over to smell it. "Hmmmm. It smells like strawberries."

"Eh, Naruto? … Still not my hair?"

"Eh?" I heard Kakashi sight and turn a page. He was reading that stupid book again! "Naruto, please take your hands out of Neji's hair. I think he's planning to rip of your hand any second now and I do not want to be responsible for that."

I quickly jerked my hand back and jumped away; far away from a rancorous Neji. "S-sorry, Neji. Y-you know what? I think I'll just get back to my seat over there." I said, quickly stumbling over to the place where I thought Sasuke was. I sat down and poked his side. "You're there?"

"Hn." I sighted in relief and slumped back in my seat. "Dobe."I could practically hear the smirk that accompanied the insult, but I choose to ignore the comment, to glad I survived Neji's wrath, and just began fidgeting with my fingers, silently cursing the blindfold for almost ending my life prematurely.

"So… are we there yet?"

"Naruto!" Okay, maybe Sasuke wasn't the only one who complained.

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It took us at least another hour (or so I thought) to reach our goal. We drove the class in multiple vans. Every van containing about five couples and one teacher. We had 'the great honor' of having Kakashi himself to escort us. Beside him we also had: Neji and Hinata, Sakura and Ino, Lee and Gaara, Shikamaru and Chouji. I didn't quite get that last group since Shika and Chouji were friends, but I guessed they were too difficult to place, since they fought with nobody. Chouji was too fixated on his food and Shikamaru…well he was just too lazy. 'It's too troublesome to fight' he'd say.

Sasuke and I were dropped off secondly. Ino and Sakura were dropped off first since they had started a fight over who did look best in some dress they had seen, while shopping that weekend. I swear Kakashi just wanted me and them gone so he could read his book quietly. I'd bet he'd get rid of Lee and his youth-speeches next.

Anyway, off the point. Once the van had left we got to take off our blindfolds and begin our way home. Seems easy, doesn't it? Well it isn't! First of all we had to walk home by foot, using this stupid map. I can tell you, in a forest a map isn't very useful, because every goddamn tree looks the same. Second of all, we had a time limit and when you'd get home late, points would be deducted of your grade. It was around noon when we started and we had until 4p.m. the next day to reach our goal, which leads me to our third problem. We had to spend the night in the woods. Can you believe it? For all we know there are murderers, thieves and rapists running around these woods, not to mentions all the wild animals that roam here. You understand me when I say I was not fond of the idea spending the night here.

Still, what had to be done, had to be done, so after finishing our lunch, we set off. We had a little argument over who got to carry the map (I ended up carrying it), but in the end everything went pretty well. We had some nice chats (in which I talked and Sasuke acted like he was listening) and some comfortable silences. All in all the day went pretty great. That was until we had to set up our camp.

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"What are you doing?"

"Setting up our tent." I answered, while putting another hook in the canvas.

"Dobe, you do know the mosquito-net has to go on the outside, don't you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "S-sure." I said, quickly readjusting the net I was currently wrapping around our tent. "Just trying out something new, maybe we find a new technique, huh?"

His eyebrow possibly rose even higher, but I ignored it and kept working on the tent. After a couple of minutes of my struggling, he moved in and started helping silently. It was probably better that way, since we had to survive the rest of the night and the next day together. Any comments would probably lead to fighting, which wouldn't be good.

When we were done, he dropped his sleeping bag in the tent and got over to the little fire he had made near our tent. (He had made that using two sticks! Can you believe it?!)

He started unpacking our diner, cold rice, tomatoes and pieces of chicken, before looking over to me. "You're going to stand there for the rest of the evening?"

I blinked looking away from our tent and staring at him. "Well?" I shook my head and went over to sit next to him. Taking my share of diner from him, I looked back at the tent. What was so shocking, you ask? Well, it was not so much the tent itself that scared me, it was what was in the tent that made me worry. I just had discovered I had forgotten something vital to this trip.

After eating our diner we got to bed early. Sasuke said it was best like that, so that we could get home earlier. After about ten minutes lying there and staring at the ceiling, Sasuke decided to speak. "Dobe."

"Yes."

"Why are you lying on the ground with your picnic cloth?" Damn, caught. I was hoping he wouldn't notice. So I had to tell the truth. With someone else I would have tried lying, but, as you may noticed, Sasuke's, or Uchiha's in general for that matter, do not take lies. "Forgot my sleeping bag…"

"Figured. You're the only dobe that brings a picnic rug, but forgets a sleeping bag."

"Hey! I did get it… just forgot it on the table when I left." I crossed my arms over my chest and pulled the cloth a little closer to my body. The damn thing wouldn't give me any warmth. "So, any reason you're freezing your ass off under that cloth of yours?"

"I just told you I forgot my sleeping bag!" I screamed sitting up. The cold may have made me a little sensitive and him asking stupid questions wasn't helping that. Was he mocking me? Like the fact it was probably actually freezing outside, wasn't bad enough! "Idiot, you rather catch a cold, than ask me to share mine."

"Don't call me that! And- Wait." I blinked. "Would you do that?"

"Hn. Don't want to explain to Mister Iruka why I brought you back as a popsicle." He said, in a tone like that was an obvious reason. I sat there for a while, not quite knowing what to do. Eventually the cold got the better of me and trying to stop the shivering I asked: "S-so can I, y-you know?"

"Hn." He got up and pulled the cloth from my body to lay in on the ground, next he zipped open his bag entirely and got under it. I just stood there and stared again not knowing what to do. Was I just supposed to lie next to him?

"Well?" Sasuke flapped back part of the sleeping backing, motioning for me to come over quickly. Not thinking twice I got under the warm cover and laid down. We again lay silently for a couple of minutes. "Dobe, we're not going to sleep properly if you're going to creep to the side of the bag the entire time."

"The bag isn't big enough and it's too cold." He pulled me closer to him. I tensed up, not used to the close contact. Wasn't he minding any of this? Wasn't he supposed the most stiff person I knew? Apparently not. "Stop tensing so much, it isn't like we didn't do this before."

Was he serious? I remembered that, but that was many years ago. I mean many years ago like in the month I lived with him and Itachi. That long ago.

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_It had been the first night at their home. My body still hurt, but Itachi's ointment was helping a lot. I was lying in one of their spare bedrooms, but couldn't sleep. I kept getting nightmares about earlier that day and couldn't help, but cry again. I was a baby. That had to be the reason Kurama left me. My own brother didn't even want me. I buried my face in bed sheet to muffle my sobs. The room was big and dark, it made me feel lonely._

_I looked up when I heard the door open. A little Sasuke was standing in the door opening, moonlight making him seen luminescent. "What are you doing?"_

"_Nothing." I said, shaking my head. Now he would think I was a baby too. "You're crying are you hurting again?" _

"_No." He padded a little closer to the bed and sat himself down of the edge. "Then why are you crying."_

"_I'm scared. I'm alone again. They're always leaving me." I said. Sasuke stared at me seriously, before crawling into the bed next to me. "What are you doing?"_

"_I'm going to sleep here, so you don't have to be scared." He laid down on the big pillow and I did the same, finally closing my eyes. "Hey, Naruto?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Don't worry, I'll never leave you."_

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I sighed at the memory and relaxed. He had kept that habit the rest of the month. Too bad that old Sasuke was gone. I heard the boy next to me yawn, before wrapping his arms around me like he used too. "Sleep tight."

"Sleep tight." I answered, before closing my eyes and letting sleep take me. This night, those few moments, it felt like the old days again.

_**Ne? he? Isn't it fun to get them in situations like this. I think it is. :D**_

_**Hope you liked it, still seeking for couples, so please review.**_

_**(PS: I'm keeping the chapters short, so I can update more frequently.)**_


	8. Sweetheart, I want another honeymoon

**_So… here's another chapter enjoy ^^_**

**Disclaimer:** They're not mine. Nope, absolutely not.

**Warning:** Be aware of bad maps. Or bad map-readers. Whatever suits you.

**Sweetheart, I want another honeymoon (another husband may work too.)**

It was already light when I woke up. Ever went camping in the woods before? If not I'll tell you what normally happens, and I'll tell you this from personal experience, since I have spent the night in the woods multiple times with Kurama. Normally you wake up during sunrise. The birds are singing, the insect flying and the cold morning air will fill your longs, while you wake up lazily, but rested, ready to start a brand new day. That is however what happens when you do not share a tent with someone named Sasuke Uchiha. Since I did, this is how my morning went.

I woke up from a branch snapping near our tent. It got me to blink my eyes open ones, but I immediately closed them again, shifting closer to the body next to me. I was rewarded by an arm pulling me even closer and I sighted in contentment. It was nice being this warm. Nice enough for me to ignore the rustling sounds near the entrance of our tent. When it became louder, I even went as far as turning around beneath the blanket and pressing my face into Sasuke's chest trying to block out the sounds. What I could not ignore however was the high-pitched scream that cut through the peaceful silence and had me jerking up my head.

"WHAT are you doing!?" I looked up groggily, staring right up in the shocked faces of Sakura and Ino. What were they doing here? "Sakura?" I mumbled, while trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "What is wrong?"

When I didn't get an answer, I followed their stares… right to Sasuke. I flushed when I realized he was still sleeping and clinging to my body. I quickly poked him in the side, which only made him stir. I tried removing arm next. "Sasuke, wake up."

I flushed even brighter when the only response I got, was him holding onto me tighter and readjusting his head a little on my chest. "Naru, tell 'tachi I don't want to." He mumbled into the fabric of my shirt. I think I blinked twice. Once, because was he acting way out of character. I mean, it wasn't every day you had a sleepy Uchiha clinging to you. The second time, because I realized the old Sasuke was still in there, now asking me to get rid from Itachi for him, so he didn't have to wake up. That was a good sign wasn't it? If this was all it'd take for him to think we were back then again –even though he were half asleep- it meant he hadn't forgotten how it was back then. Maybe, just maybe he wanted it back too.

I looked up at the two girls again, having momentarily forgotten about their presence and smiled sheepishly. It seemed like they were both torn between dragging me out of the tent and away from Sasuke and finding a camera to snap a photo of him sleeping. I guess he must have looked cute –as they call it!-, seeing him snuggle closer to my chest. "E-euhm… I think he's cold."

I rubbed the back of head and grinned. What else do you say in situations like these? A short, but not less uncomfortable, silence passed. Ino was the first one to act. I guess it was wrong of me to feel relieved when a small smile slid over her face, but hey, I was seriously glad she was reacting in a positive way. For all I knew she could sick his fangirls on me. (Which were a lot by the way. You do not want to know how many nasty glares I got after my fight with him. It's like he's got a personal army or something.) So I was happy, she was smiling. That sweet smile however, made the commend that followed hit twice as hard. "You're comfy?"

Twice as hard as in my head taking on the color of a tomato, instead of coloring just my cheeks. That seemed to humor her only more. "No." I shook my head vigorously, which only had her giggling. "You when Kakashi told us to form couples, he didn't actually meant for you to hook up with your partner."

Was that girl out of her mind? What the hell was she suggesting? Wait, this wasn't even suggesting anymore, she was out right saying it, damn it! Since I was at a loss of words, it was Sakura that answered. "Stop saying such things, Ino! Naruto is a boy. Sasuke would never like him, so stop joking about it. That's just wrong!"

Okay, that hurt. I didn't know why, but it just did. I guessed it was, because she was saying he would never like me. And while I knew she meant in a romantic kind of way, it still hurt. Present Sasuke hated me, I knew that, I hated this Sasuke too. But even if I tried I couldn't deny the fact I liked him once, that we were once friends, that he was my best (and only) friend. And, though I'd never admit that to him (or anyone else for that matter), I missed that. I guess I was afraid it'd never be like that again.

"Naruto?" Ino asked, looking slightly worried. I quickly put on a grin and rubbed the back of neck. "Sorry, I was spacing out for a moment. Did you say something?" She sent me a look that definitely stated, she didn't buy it, but apparently she decided to cut me a break, because she turned to Sakura. "You know what! We can eat breakfast together!" She said, changing the subject of our conversation in an instant. "Sakura, go search a spot to lay out our picnic cloth. I'll set up the food." I knew I wasn't the only who brought a picnic cloth! That teme just didn't know what he was talking about. I'd tell h- "Naruto?" Huh? Ino was looking at me, while Sakura walked off, probably to go find a picnic spot.

"You can wake Sasuke." She sent a glance at the bastard who was sound asleep again. How he did sleep through all this, I didn't know, but I sure as hell knew that lying like this was pretty uncomfortable , since I had to look up and talk why while I was pressed down. "Then you two can grab your stuff and join us." I nodded to confirm I understood and she smiled in return. Thereafter she took a step back to walk away, before seemingly deciding against it and opening her mouth. "You… you know Sakura didn't mean that, don't you?" She asked, looking at me as if to gauge my reaction. I blinked, before smiling and shaking my head. "What are you talking about. She didn't say anything to me."

"Naruto…" She said in a warning tone. I acted like I didn't notice and kept on smiling. She sighted and sent me a knowing look, before shaking her head. "Just know I'm here to talk." So maybe – and I say maybe – she did know all along, even before I noticed, but I just didn't see it. I think she noticed then and just kept quiet till later on. Too bad I didn't know that back then. "Why would I have to talk?"

"Naruto, you're my friend now. Just know you can trust me." I only knew I had gained a true friend.

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It took me couple of minutes to get Sasuke to wake up. When he finally had awakened he glared at me, acting like he hadn't be clinging to me moments ago. We got dressed and joined in on breakfast with Sakura and Ino. Most of breakfast I spent talking to Ino and watching Sakura's futile attempts in getting Sasuke to talk to her. Ever since I woke him up, he had been pretending we were air to him. Okay, he had been pretending I was air. The girls at least got some grunts. It made me all the more happy, we could now travel along with Ino and Sakura, at least they'd talk to me. Sadly I forgot I was teamed up with Sasuke Uchiha and that he greatly enjoyed making my life miserable.

"We're not traveling together. That's not the purpose of our task." I should have been impressed by the fact he 'graced' us with a whole sentence on this gloomy morning, but I was too busy being pissed. "Why the hell not?!"

"There's a reason we got dropped in separate groups." He stated before walking away. And that was final, because Sakura and Ino didn't follow (Sakura probably wanting to stay on Sasuke's good side) and I couldn't stay behind. Okay, technically I could, but I didn't want to get a zero. So I spent the rest of day with the teme.

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"Dobe."

"Yes?"

"We passed that same tree half an hour ago." What? I looked at the map I was holding again – yes, after enough whining he actually gave it to me- and tried to find our current location. I failed. "How do you even know it's the same tree? They all look the same!" I got a snort as reply. "Learn to watch, moron." He stepped closer to the tree and held out his finger. I squinted my eyes, but saw nothing more than the stupid bark of an old damaged tree. It's only natural I told him so. "What the hell do I have to see, bastard? There's nothing there."

"Idiot, I marked the tree once I began suspecting you were leading us in circles." I scoffed and looked back at the tree, realizing that the long cut in the side wasn't some kind of random animal damage, but a mark inflicted by Sasuke. "So? I messed up ones, who cares? It's not like we're lost or something. "I said, shrugging. "Besides who the hell leaves marks anyway? Are you or something ?"

"Do you know where we are on the map?" Damnit, why did he always beat me at these things. I had to admit I hadn't the slightest idea. It was not my fault though, these maps aren't very detailed. "No."

"Then we're lost."

"Not my fault." I huffed , crossing my arms. "You should have looked at the map too." He didn't think that was true. "You wanted, insisted and whined to carry the map. It is your fault."

Did I already mention, Sasuke is cranky in the morning? He was when he was little and I had discovered that hadn't changed. At all. As the day dragged on, it only got worse. He got more snappy and when he wasn't insulting me, he stayed so quiet, it was getting on my nerves. So when we were still 'lost' – we were not lost, we were just momentarily off route – less than half an hour before our time limit, I couldn't take it anymore. "Stop being a prick and help a little!" I yelled, shoving the map in his hands. If he was surprised by my sudden outburst he didn't show it. "Why would I?"

"I don't know, maybe to pass this task? Do you even know how late it is? We have only twenty minutes left to get to the damn checkpoint!" Judging by the way his eyes widened and he looked up at the sky, I guess he forgot to take his watch on this trip. Maybe I should have mentioned the time to him before, because, as nice as the morning had been, the sky had gotten clouded as the day proceeded and it was hard to tell how late it was. Or actually, no, he should have just asked me. "You mean we're completely lost and we're going to miss our deadline? You idiot, why didn't you say something earlier. I'm not getting a zero, because of you."

He sent me a dead glare, before looking at the map. As I guessed he still wouldn't accept anything less than the maximum. He had that 'little quirk' back then too. God, if his tower of blocks wasn't straight enough, he would built it over and over until he deemed it worthy. I blinked as I noticed Sasuke wasn't there anymore and I looked around to see him walking off between some trees.

"Hey, wait for me." I jogged up behind him, grabbing his shoulder to slow him down a little, apparently a bad idea. I closed my eyes tightly, when I got suddenly shoved against one of the trees. What the heck?! Why was he being so aggressive all of a sudden? I blinked a couple of times trying to get rid of the white spots than dances around my sight. "Do you know where we are?"

I think he was seriously pissed off, because his voice was dangerously low. "No." I gulped as he held out the map, pointing a place that seemed miles away from our checkpoint. I could see we were never going to make it in time. Hell, I didn't know if we would even make it before dark. I shifted a little his hold, which was probably bruising me, not sure why I was still being held like that. Shouldn't I have punched him by now? It wasn't like he had any right to hurt me – don't tell him it did – without me doing the same to him. Any other time I would have, but now.. something didn't seem quite right.

I only got more sure of that when he suddenly released me again. He shook his head, rubbing his temple. "You know what? This isn't worth my time, let's just get home." He mumbled tiredly, while walking off again. Okay, this guy had some serious mood swings. If he hadn't been a boy, I would have said he was pregnant.

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It was now 6 p.m., which meant we were already two hours late. I didn't how long we still had to walk, for all I knew we were still three hours away, but I wasn't exactly willing to ask Sasuke. I didn't know what was wrong, but I was guessing he was worn out. He kept rubbing his temples and eyes and had stumbled two times in the past half hour. Not convinced? Well, you've got to know Sasuke never ever stumbles, it doesn't suit the good Uchiha grace. So the fact he had done it twice in half an hour must mean he was really tired. Beside that his usual stoic mask, was now replaced by a constant scowl.

"How long?" I figured I couldn't wait forever. I never was the patient type anyway.

"Hn." I guess that could be translated as 'wait, I'll take a look on the map' or something like that, there should probably also add a 'dobe' or 'idiot' in that sentence. Anyway, it resulted in what I wanted, namely Sasuke checking on the map. "Not far anymore, we should get there in about ten minutes."

He held out the map for me to look at it, but instead of looking at the map, I noticed something off. "Sasuke. Your hands are shaking." Even if I would have tried to read the map, I couldn't have made out anything due to the constant movement. The black-haired boy quickly pulled his hands back, crossing his arms before his chest. I smirked at the sudden reaction, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to tease him. "You're cold? Want me to get you a blanket?"

He didn't go for it, but turned away, glaring at the dark scenery as he walked. Too bad I liked arguing with him. We kept walking and, as predicted, only seven minutes later we found our checkpoint. I almost jumped, okay totally jumped, the big rock Mister Kakashi had showed us at the beginning of the trip. I even went as far as kissing the rock and thanking everyone who would hear it out there for our safe return. Now we could all go home and-

I looked around in slight panic, noticing a fall back in my plan. "They're not here." I watched as Sasuke let himself slide back against the rock rubbing his temples again. "Of course they're not here. They're probably searching for us. If we just sit here and wait they will find us. Running around would only lessen the chances of running into them. They will return to the checkpoint eventually."

I nodded. That actually made sense. I looked to see if he had seen it, but saw he had his eyes closed and his head leaned back against the rock. With his legs stretched before him, I noticed it weren't only his hands that trembled. "Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"You're sure you're not cold?" He opened his eyes to look at me and hn-ed again. Translation? He wasn't cold. Sure, and ramen was the worst food of the world. I got closer and dropped on my knees next to him, which earned me a glare. Rolling my eyes, I ignored him. I was not falling for such crap. Hell, his cheeks were even flushed red from the cold. "Stop lying. I bet you're freezing."

To prove my point I quickly pressed my hand against his forehead suspecting to feel ice. I was wrong. "God, Sasuke, you're burning." The quiet boy glared away, pushing the hand from his head. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not! You're having a fever!" His glare shifted back to me.

"I said I'm fine." Was he stupid? How did he get high grades if he couldn't even tell when something was wrong with his own body? He had some serious problems.

"You're sick. That isn't 'fine' in any way."

"I don't get sick." If he hadn't had a fever, I would have smacked him over the head.

"Everybody gets sick!"

"Uchihas don't!" I think we both didn't expect him to say that. He glared off again, ending my argumentation. Stupid Uchiha pride. Damn people had too much of it. I dropped my backpack and start digging out the picnic blanket. I could already start him protesting. "I said I was n-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not sick. Just share the stupid with me, will ya? I'm cold and I need the warmth." I sat down beside him, wrapping the blanket around us. If he didn't believe me, he didn't argue either. We sat there for a while, I'm not sure for how long. Somewhere in that time Sasuke fell asleep his head lying in an awkward position against the rock. Again: damn his stupid pride. I gently guiding his head down to my lap, before closing my eyes myself. I hoped the others would be here soon.

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I woke up from someone shouting my name. "Naruto! Sasuke!"

My heart jumped in joy as I saw bundles of lights coming from between the trees. "Over here! We're here!" I screamed, before turning my head to Sasuke. "Teme, wake up. They're here." I shook him a little, but only got a weak groan. I quickly felt his head again, this time not meeting any resistance, and noted he still had a fever. He shivered badly and his hear stuck to his forehead due al his sweating. He groaned again as tried to open his eyes slightly. I quickly run my hand through his hair, stroking it to offer some form of comfort for the sick boy. "Sssshh. It's okay. They're here."

I may have sounded slightly panicked when I saw only Ino and Sakura running toward me. "Where's Kakashi?"

"Right behind us. Are you two alright?" Ino asked, kneeling to pull me in a suffocating hug. She raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. "Is he asleep again?"

"No. He i-. Mister Kakashi, come quick." Even the evil teacher seemed relieved to see us as he jogged up to us. "Boys, where the hell did you to go? Do you know how lo-"

"Mister Kakashi, Sasuke. " I interrupted him, motioning the shivering boy on my lap. "You've to take him to a doctor immediately! He's burning up." I made a move to get up, but had a little trouble getting him up. "Naara! Start up the van. The rest of you get in!" I saw the other couples sending worried to us as Kakashi helped Sasuke stand. I was slightly confused when I saw a worried Iruka running toward me. Now where did he come from? "Naruto, are you alright? What is wrong?" I almost let Sasuke slip as Iruka hugged me tightly, which earned me some sniggers from the two girls and Chouji, while I heard Lee mumbling something about love to an angry looking Gaara. Luckily for them I was too busy, trying to concentrate on not dropping the teme as Iruka questioned me. "Where did you go? What happened?"

"Iruka, another time for that please. Sasuke is ill, we've got to get him to a doctor." Iruka immediately shut up now, looking at Sasuke. He paled a little. "That doesn't look good. I'll start the van immediately." Kakashi stopped him before he could run to the front. "Naara's driving. You're not good in situations like this. You're too worried."

I heard, Iruka protest, but didn't really pay attention as I helped Sasuke in the back. He leaned heavily on me as I sat him next to me, swinging my arm around him to keep him in place as the van moved. I bet if he had been awake and sound, he would have protested, but I guess he was too sick. The ride back was silent. Somewhere in the beginning Sakura tried to take Sasuke from me, telling me to sleep, but when I wouldn't budge, she let me. We drove for what seemed for hours and I closed my eyes tiredly.

I swear after this I was never going camping again. Or at least not without a decent map.

_**I was thinking 'what could go wrong on droppings?' and came up with a list of things I went through myself. When I couldn't choose which one I'd use I just added all of them.**_

_**- I was on walk with school once with a friend of mine. When I saw something was wrong, I asked, but she kept saying she was alright, even though she was near fainting. She was sick for a week after that. Damn stubborn girl! If you're sick, you're not 'fine' !**_

_**- We had this search in a city and we were split in teams and had to get to check points. Too bad for us the map didn't quite match the city and the measurements were messed up. Soon enough we were lost and I asked the map. Next thing I know they're mad at me, because I'm holding the map, even though we were already lost!**_

_**- There was this guy we know who took a walk in the mountains and all of a sudden he got a fever and weird spots all over his body. Because there couldn't get any cars up in the mountains, they had to nearly carry him to the doctor in a small town. What he got I'll tell in the next chapter, since I picked the same for Sasuke?**_

_**- We once lost a two boys on a weekend with school. We had to get to the same spot in different pairs and the boys went off the path. We found them more than an one hour late, once they finally got to the meeting point.**_

_**Sometimes I wonder why we need drama shows when our lives are like this already…**_


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